- Mullah Baradar, the head of theTaliban’s political office, will lead the new government in Afghanistan, at least three sources in the Islamist group said.
Two weeks after the fall of Kabul, Abdul Ghani Baradar, popularly known as Mullah Baradar, the head of the Taliban’s political office, will lead the new government in Afghanistan, at least three sources in the Islamist group confirmed this to news agency Reuters.
Earlier on Thursday, Anamullah Samangani, from the Taliban’s cultural commission had said that Mullah Hebatullah Akhundzada will be the leader of the new government.
“Consultations are almost finalised on the new government, and the necessary discussions have also been held about the cabinet. The Islamic government that we will announce will be a … model for the people. There is no doubt about the presence of the Commander of the Faithful (Akhunzada) in the government. He will be the leader of the government,” Samangani had said yesterday.
Who is Mullah Baradar?
- Abdul Ghani Baradar, popularly known as Mullah Baradar, was brought up in Kandahar, considered as the birthplace of the Taliban movement.
- In 2010, Baradar was arrested near Pakistan’s Karachi. He was kept in custody until 2018, after which he was relocated to Qatar.
- After the release, Baradar was appointed as the chief of the Taliban’s diplomatic office in Doha.
- He also oversaw the signing of the US withdrawal agreement of seeking complete removal of US forces from Afghanistan.
- It is believed that he fought side-by-side with the one-eyed cleric Mullah Omar during the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s.
- During Taliban’s collapse in 2001, after the September attacks in the US, Baradar is said to be among a small group of insurgents who approached interim leader Hamid Karzai with a letter outlining a potential deal that would have seen the militants recognise the new administration.