What a Taliban Government Will Look Like

Taliban leaders will form a 12-man council to rule Afghanistan and will offer some pliant members of the former U.S.-supported government the ministries of their choice as they strive to form an administration that is acceptable to the international community, sources close to the leadership said. The three most powerful men in the leadership council will be Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, co-founder of the Taliban, and the man behind the victorious military strategy; and a senior figure in the Haqqani network. This strategy for governing Afghanistan avoids the recreation of such positions as president, or even that of emir, a title claimed by previous leaders of the Taliban insurgency.