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In 1996, the last time the Taliban captured Afghanistan, there was never any question of what form of government they would install and who would run the country. They were filling a void and Mullah Mohammed Omar, the reclusive cleric who had led the movement since its inception two years earlier, took the lead.
The circumstances, however, are very different today. Amid speculation that Haibatullah Akhundzada, a 60-year-old Islamic jurist who took over when his predecessor Akhtar Mansour was killed in a U.S. drone strike near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in 2016, will become the head of the country, Reuters Taliban sources have confirmed that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar will lead the new Afghan government.
Baradar, who heads the Taliban’s political bureau and is also the group’s co-founder, will be joined by Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the son of the late founder of the Taliban, Mullah Omar, and Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, in leadership positions in government, Reuters reported.
“All the top leaders have arrived in Kabul, where preparations are in the final stages to announce the new government,” a Taliban official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
So who is Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar?
Mullah Baradar belongs to the Popalzai Pashtun tribe and is known as co-founder of the Taliban with Mullah Muhammad Omar, the first emir. Baradar was one of a few dozen original members of the Taliban and currently heads the group’s political bureau. His name means “brother” and was conferred by Mullah Omar himself as a sign of affection.
Born into an influential Pashtun tribe in Uruzgan province, southern Afghanistan, in 1968, as a youth, Mullah Baradar fought with Mujahedin guerrillas against Soviet troops and the Afghan government they left behind. behind them. After the Russians withdrew in 1989 and the country fell into a civil war between rival warlords, he established a madrassa in Kandahar with his former commander and renowned brother-in-law Mohammad Omar. Together, the two mullahs founded the Taliban, a movement led by young Islamic scholars dedicated to the religious cleansing of the country and the creation of an emirate.
Baradar, Mullah Omar’s deputy who was widely regarded as a very effective strategist, was one of the main architects of the Taliban’s rise to power in 1996. During his five-year reign, before being ousted by American and Afghan forces, Baradar held a host of key positions, including that of deputy minister of defense.
During the Taliban’s 20-year exile, Baradar had a reputation for being a powerful military leader and a subtle political operator. However, the West was suspicious of his powers and eventually the Obama administration, in 2010, tracked him down in Karachi and persuaded the ISI to arrest him. In 2010, Baradar was arrested by the ISI after he began responding to openings of peace talks from President Hamid Karzai, another Popalzai. Karzai was anything but the man of Pakistan, and during his years in power and until a few months ago, he spoke about the role of the Pakistani military in the conflict.
Baradar spent eight years in prison and was not released until the Trump administration began talks with the Taliban in 2018. He led the nine-member Taliban team that negotiated with US Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad – they were the last two signatories of the Doha agreement. year, in which the United States agreed to withdraw its troops on condition that the Taliban do not harbor al-Qaeda or ISIS, and hold negotiations with other Afghans to reach a political settlement to end the the war.
He went on to become the Taliban’s chief ambassador, organizing dozens of face-to-face meetings with officials from regional powers such as Pakistan and China, leaders of other Islamist movements, and speaking on the phone with President Trump.
What does Baradar’s coming to power mean?
In his first comment after the capture of Kabul on August 15, Baradar acknowledged his surprise, saying that “we were never expected to have victory in Afghanistan.” Wearing a black turban and waistcoat over a white robe, the group’s bespectacled co-founder, while looking straight into the camera, added: “Now comes the test,” he said. “We must rise to the challenge of serving and securing our nation, and giving it a stable life in the future. “
However, as he prepares to take over the government of Afghanistan, what is quite clearly visible is the Taliban’s inability to break the shackles of the past. Regarding his relations with Pakistan, it is not clear whether Baradar has now made peace with them, who have held the Taliban in hand during the talks. But, what is evident is that as the head of the new government he is likely to have a more independent mind than the Pakistani security establishment – the military and the ISI would like.
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