Shirin

The Taliban are finally beginning to consolidate power in Afghanistan.

The group is appointing government ministers as it attempts to form a functional apparatus.

The first appointment was an open mockery to the United States - Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir as a Defense Minister.

Zakir is a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner between 2001 and 2007.

A Turkish master of the traditional shadow play Karagöz and Hacivat aims to preserve the art according to its origins.

Metin Özlen, 80, said he learned the shadow play at the age of four from stories his grandfather told him. He later became interested in production techniques and created his first figures from cardboard.