The Taliban expanded their interim cabinet on Tuesday, filling the roles of new minister and deputy along with all men as women continue to be excluded from the insurgent group’s new government.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid at a new conference on Tuesday said the new MPs were brought up in Cabinet for their technical skills, according to the Associated Press. He also defended the group’s choices noting that some of the latest additions are members of ethnic minorities, including the Hazaras.

The Cabinet’s new male selections come after the Taliban announced its interim, all-male government earlier this month. One of the new government officials is the leader of a terrorist group designated by the United States; Sirajuddin Haqqani, wanted by the FBI, has been appointed acting interior minister.

The absence of women in the interim government worries Afghan women, who fear that the Taliban will resort to the strict interpretation of Islam that they applied when they last ruled the country in the first place. late 1990s.

This philosophy prevented girls and women from going to school, work and public life.

Mujahid left the door open on Tuesday for women who may be added to the cabinet at a later date, according to the AP, but he did not provide any specific information. He also said that the Taliban are preparing regulations allowing teenage girls and women to attend schools and jobs that comply with Islamic law.

He did not, however, propose a timetable for such rules.

Mujahid reportedly reacted angrily and defensively when discussing the international conditions for recognition of the group’s government, arguing that there was no reason not to identify the Cabinet.

“It is the responsibility of the United Nations to recognize our government [and] so that other countries, including European, Asian and Islamic countries, have diplomatic relations with us, ”Mujahid said, according to the AP.

The international community said it would judge the insurgent group on the basis of its actions, and that recognition of a Taliban government would be tied to its treatment of women and minorities, according to the newswire.

Mujahid said last month that Afghan women should be respected by the Taliban, saying they would have “all the rights that Islam promises” and that “they can be doctors, teachers, be educated and can work for the good of society ”.

Since then, however, the insurgent group has imposed some restrictions on these rights. For example, the new Taliban minister of higher education has said that Afghan women can only study in gender-neutral university classrooms.