Who is the leader of the Taliban who managed to unite extremists to take back power in Afghanistan

Before his appointment, little was known about Akhundzada, until then more focused on judicial and religious matters than on military art. Although this scholar enjoyed great influence within the insurgency, of which he led the judicial system, some analysts believed that his role at the head of the movement would be more symbolic than operational.

Son of a theologian from Kandahar, the heart of the Pashtun country in southern Afghanistan and cradle of the Taliban, Akhundzada quickly obtained an oath of allegiance from Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of Al-Qaeda. He is considered Orthodox also for maintaining the privileged relationship with Al-Qaeda and the strong opposition against the Islamic State’s (IS) infiltration attempts years ago among the Taliban.

The Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri called him “emir of the believers”, a name which allowed him to consolidate his credibility in the jihadist world.

Akhundzada had the delicate mission of unifying the Taliban, fractured by a violent struggle for power after Mansur’s death and the revelation that they had hidden for years the death of the movement’s founder, Mullah Omar.

The insurgent managed to keep the group together and continued to be fairly low-key, limiting himself to delivering rare annual messages on Islamic holidays.

Akhundzada He has long been considered a religious rather than a military reference, author of several Fatwa (religious edicts) issued on behalf of the group over the past 20 years.

Sirajuddin Haqqani

Son of a famous anti-Soviet jihad commander, Jalaluddin Haqqani, Sirajuddin is at the same time the taliban number two and the head of the Haqqani network.

This network, founded by his father, is classified as terrorist by Washington, which has consistently viewed it as the most dangerous fighting faction ahead of US and NATO troops over the past two decades in Afghanistan.

He is also accused of having assassinated certain senior Afghan officials and of having held Westerners hostage for ransom or having held them as prisoners like the American army Bowe Bergdahl, released in 2014 in exchange for five Afghan detainees from the prison. from Guantanamo.

Known for their independence, fighting skills and successful business, the Haqqani are said to be in charge of Taliban operations in the mountainous regions of eastern Afghanistan and have great influence over the movement’s decisions.

Abdul Ghani Baradar

Below both is Abdul Ghani Baradar, responsible for taking the peace negotiations with the United States. Born in Uruzgan province (south) and educated in Kandahar, he is the co-founder of the Taliban with Mullah Omar, who died in 2013, but whose death was hidden for two years.

Like many Afghans, his life was shaped by the Soviet invasion in 1979, which made him a mujahedin, a fundamentalist Islamic fighter, and reportedly fought alongside Mullah Omar.

In 2001, after the American intervention and the fall of the Taliban regime, he would have been part of a small group of insurgents ready to accept an agreement recognizing the administration of Kabul. But this initiative failed.

Abdul Ghani Baradar was the Taliban’s military commander when he was arrested in 2010 in Karachi, Pakistan. He was released in 2018, notably under pressure from Washington.

Listened to and respected by the various Taliban factions, he was appointed to head his political office, located in Qatar.

From the Gulf country, he conducted negotiations with the Americans, which led to the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.

Mohamed yaqub

Another of the Taliban leaders is Mohamed yaqub, son of Mullah Omar, who is currently the head of the group’s powerful military commission, which decides on the strategic orientations of the war against the Afghan executive.

His ancestry and his ties to his father, whom he adores as the leader of the Taliban, have made him a unifying figure in a large and diverse movement.

Speculations about his exact role in the insurgency are persistent. Some analysts believe that his appointment as head of this commission in 2020 was only symbolic.

On the ground, according to US experts, the Taliban now has at least 60,000 active armed fighters, which could reach 200,000 with the recruitment of other militias linked to local warlords, some of whom have already joined the group.

And along with the Afghan jihadists, according to various reports, some 10,000 foreign fighters, mostly Pakistanis, but also from Central Asian countries, from Uzbekistan to Turkmenistan, are committed to more than Chechen and Uyghur groups in China.

A broad front which, according to witnesses, is more and more numerous and which is fighting with the help of weapons provided by the American army, stolen from the Afghan regular forces in Kabul, returned or defeated in combat in recent months.