KABUL — The leader of the Taliban has ordered Afghan officials to sack relatives they have hired to government positions.

Hibatullah Akhundzada's decree says officials should replace appointed sons or other family members — and refrain from hiring relatives in future.

The Taliban dismissed some senior staff when they took power in 2021, while others fled.

There have been allegations that inexperienced staff have been hired based on their personal connections.

The Afghan Islamic Press, based in Peshawar, Pakistan, reported that the decree followed allegations that several senior Taliban officials had appointed their sons to roles within the government.

A photo of the decree was posted on the Office of Administrative Affairs' Twitter page on Saturday.

Afghanistan has faced a deepening economic and humanitarian crisis since the Taliban swept into Kabul and regained control of the country. Foreign military forces had been in the country for two decades, fighting a war that killed tens of thousands and displaced millions more.

Since then, sanctions have been placed on members of the Taliban government, the central bank's overseas assets have been frozen, and most foreign funding has been suspended - cutting off an economic lifeline.

Afghanistan is estimated to be sitting on natural resources - including natural gas, copper and rare earths - worth more than $1tn (£831.5bn), but those reserves remain untapped due to decades of turmoil in the country.

The Taliban government's treatment of women has outraged the international community and increased its isolation while its economy collapses.

Education of women and girls has been particularly contentious. Currently girls and women are barred from secondary schools and universities in most of Afghanistan. — BBC