The Taliban have announced an interim government in Afghanistan, and declared the country an “Islamic Emirate”.

The government will be led by Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, one of the movement’s founders.

The interior minister will be a feared FBI-wanted leader of the Haqqani militant group.

The Taliban seized control of most of the country more than three weeks ago, ousting the previous elected leadership.

The announcement of the acting cabinet is a key step in the formation of a Taliban government.

“We know the people of our country have been waiting for a new government,” spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, adding that the group had answered the people’s needs.

Sarajuddin Haqqani, the new acting interior minister, is head of the militant group known as the Haqqani network who are affiliated with the Taliban and have been behind some of the deadliest attacks in the country’s two-decade-long war.

Unlike the wider Taliban, the Haqqani network has been designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the US.