Mawlawi Noor Jalal Jalali, born in 1973, has been serving as Minister of Public Health since late May 2024. Prior to assuming this position, he was the Deputy Minister for Administrative Affairs at the Ministry of Interior from the fall of 2021. In that role, he oversaw a broad administrative portfolio within the interior ministry that included the oversight of the national police force and specialized police units.
Noor Jalal Jalali's extensive experience with the Taliban dates back to the 1990s, when he served as the Deputy Minister of Interior Affairs under the first Taliban regime. In an August 2022 press conference, he announced plans to expand the Taliban’s newly established police force to approximately 200,000 personnel. He noted that recruitment was managed by a dedicated commission, reporting that over 42,000 Taliban fighters and more than 2,700 former Afghan government personnel had already joined the force. He also highlighted the deployment of border forces at eight airports and 18 border crossings across Afghanistan.
Noor Jalal Jalali is the cousin of Mawlawi Najibullah Haqqani, the current Taliban Minister of Urban Development and Housing. He was listed under United Nations Security Council sanctions on February 23, 2001, but was removed from the sanctions list on March 19, 2012. According to public reports, he has held a Pakistani passport, which he has used for travel to Gulf countries, including the United Arab Emirates.
