Afghanistan's National Assembly's fate uncertain after Taliban takeover

Uncertainty looms over the functioning of Afghanistan's National Assembly after the Ashraf Ghani government collapsed last month following the Taliban takeover.

The National Assembly, composed of two houses - the lower house and the upper house, has not resumed activities since August 15 when the Taliban entered Kabul after months of offensives.

It's been a month since the takeover but the house has not held a meeting, said Fazl Hadi Muslimyar, the speaker of the senate, and added that there have been no documents released so far about the dissolution of the house.

The world countries' parliaments in a joint meeting on September 6 in Austria announced their readiness to work with the current parliament of Afghanistan, reported TOLOnews.

"Until a new parliament is formed, this parliament will continue working with the world countries' parliaments. The information I obtained confirms that this is the decision of the world countries' parliaments," Muslimyar added.

Member of Parliament Sayed Ahmad Silab claimed that besides a small number of MPs, the rest have left the country.

"Still, it is not clear what decision will be made about those left in the country. If the Taliban makes any decision about those who remained in Afghanistan, what will the decision be about those who have left? These issues are not clear," he said.

The Taliban has announced that the structure of the National Assembly will change in the new government. They also said that that a council of religious scholars might be the ultimate authority in the country, reported TOLOnews.

Afghanistan's lower house has 250 members and the senate has 102. The lower house members are elected by the people, while some of the senate members are elected and others are appointed by the president.

The Taliban captured Kabul on August 15 after an aggressive and rapid advance against government forces amid the withdrawal of US and NATO troops from the country.

( With inputs from ANI )