Mullah Mohammad Essa Akhund, a prominent figure within the southern Taliban, was appointed Minister of Public Works on January 16, 2023.
Prior to this role, he was Deputy Minister of Energy and Water from August 2022 to January 2023 and served as Director General/Chief Executive Officer of Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), the state-owned national electricity company, from February to August 2022. He also held the position of Deputy Minister for Technical Affairs at the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum from November 2021 to February 2022.
During the 1990s, he served as Minister of Energy and Water under the Taliban regime. His experience also includes roles as a judge in Kandahar and deputy governor of Uruzgan province. He previously fought against Soviet forces as part of the Mawlawi Mohammad Younas Khalis faction. He is considered a close associate of Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Defense Minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob.
He reportedly holds an Afghanistan diplomatic passport D0010402 (issued August 4, 2024, in Kabul; expires August 4, 2029), listing a date of birth of February 22, 1957. He is listed under the United Nations sanctions regime under designation TAi.060.
