KABUL – Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the head of Taliban’s political wing and naib emir, on Tuesday reahced Kandhar province of Afghanistan after a gap of 20 year.
Baradar, who was vice defence minister when the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001, would be given some major responsibilities at a time when the country is headless after the escape of President Ashraf Ghani.
Reports said that Baradar is accompanied by the leadership of the Taliban’s political office in Doha, Qatar.
Who is Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar?
Baradar was born in the Afghan province of Uruzgan in 1968, and was raised in Kandahar.
He also fought against Soviet invasion and also believed to have fought alongside Mullah Omar, the Afghan mujahid commander who later headed the group when it founded the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in 1996.
The two Afghan leaders later founded the Taliban movement in the early 1990s when the country was facing civil war following the Soviet withdrawal.
Baradar went into hiding in 2001 when the US toppled the Taliban’s government while he continued to lead the group in exile.
Belong to Popalzai tribe, he was arrested by Pakistani forces in 2010. He remained in Pakistani custody until the US put pressure on to free him in 2018.
After his release, he went to Qatar where he was appointed head of the Taliban’s political office, and he represented Taliban during the signing of the withdrawal agreement with the Americans.
On this Sunday, Taliban managed to took control of Afghanistan after President Ashraf Ghani fled Kabul, paving way for the group to claim victory.
