Taliban co-founder visited Kabul to negotiate formation of new government

Amid the desperation of thousands still waiting to leave Afghanistan in a chaotic evacuation operation, Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar arrived in Kabul on Saturday to meet with members of the his group and other political representatives. form a new government.

“He will be in Kabul to meet with the leaders of the jihadist fighters and with the political leaders to form a inclusive government“, explained a Taliban leader in dialogue with AFP.

Baradar arrived in Afghanistan from Qatar on Tuesday, but then chose to travel to the country’s second-largest city, Kandahar, the historic birthplace of the Taliban.

A few hours after his arrival, the Taliban assured that their command would be “different” this time.

Arrested in Pakistan in 2010, Baradar remained in detention until his release in 2018, when he was sent to the country from the United Arab Emirates. There he was appointed head of the Taliban political bureau in Doha, where he participated in the negotiations and the signing of an agreement with the United States, according to which the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan was established.

In addition, another historic Taliban leader who has been sighted in the capital in recent days is Khalil Haqqani, one of the most wanted terrorists for the United States. His capture includes a reward of $ 5 million.

For their part, social media defending Taliban interests showed footage of Haqqani meeting Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a stubborn rival during the civil war of the early 1990s and still influential in Afghan politics.

Another prominent figure in the so-called “Haqqani network”, Anas Haqqani, was also in the capital and spoke with former President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, who led the peace process for the previous administration.

In the midst of a social crisis, the Taliban promised to be “positively different“Of his previous government, between 1996 and 2001, known for his fundamentalist interpretation of Islam.

In this time, women were excluded from public life, the girls could not go to school and there was stoning for adultery.

They also promised do not take revenge on your adversaries and offer a general amnesty to those who have worked with the Washington-backed government.

However, a United Nations intelligence document said militants were going door-to-door looking for people who had worked with the Americans or NATO.

According to this document, to which AFP had access, they are also checking people going to Kabul airport.