The Taliban is all set to re-establish the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, almost 20 years after they were ousted by a US-led invasion.
With the collapse of the Afghan Government after President Ashraf Ghani fled the war-ravaged country, the co-founder of the Taliban, Mullah Baradar, is likely to be the new Afghan President.
As Mullah Baradar emerged as the undisputed leader of the Taliban, Jagran Josh takes a look at his life and political career.
Who is Mullah Baradar?
Mullah Baradar, also known as Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is one of the co-founders of the Taliban movement that was founded in 1994 and close confidant of Mullah Omar, the founder of the Taliban. Married to Mullah Omar’s sister, Baradar heads the political office of the Taliban and is part of its negotiating team in Doha. He also served as the Governor of the Herat Province and wrote a code of conduct for Taliban commanders.
Arrested in a joint US-Pakistan raid in Karachi in February 2010, Mullah Baradar was freed in 2018 upon the requests from the USA as part of peace talks and was relocated to Qatar.
Post his release from Pakistani jail, he became the head of the Taliban’s political office and was part of the withdrawal agreement with the USA.
Born and bred in Afghanistan, Mullah Baradar’s life, like most Afghans, was changed by the Soviet invasion in the late 1970s which turned him into an insurgent. The 53-year-old is believed to have fought alongside one-eyed cleric, Mullah Omar, to expel Soviet troops from Afghanistan in the 1980s and served as the Deputy Defence Minister in the Taliban led government.
| Taliban Movement
Amid the chaos of the civil war post-Soviet withdrawal in 1992, Baradar set up a madrasa in Kandhar with Mullah Omar. Together they founded the Taliban, a movement spearheaded by young Islamic scholars for the religious purification of the country and the creation of an emirate. |
Following the fall of the Taliban Government in 2001, Baradar was among a small group of insurgents who approached the then interim leader Hamid Karzai with a letter highlighting a potential deal that would have seen the militants recognise the new administration.
During the Taliban’s exile, he has gained a reputation for being a potent military leader and subtle political operator. He is also viewed as the most resistant to ISI control and most amenable to political contacts with Kabul.
While Baradar inked the Doha Agreement with the US in February 2020, there’s little to no progress on that end. According to the agreement, the US and Taliban agreed not to fight each other, followed by power-sharing talks between the Taliban and the Kabul government.
Other names in the insurgent group
1- Haibatullah Akhundzada was appointed the Supreme Leader of Taliban after his predecessor, Mullah Mansour Akhtar, was killed in a US drone strike in 2016. He serves more as a spiritual figurehead rather than a military commander of the insurgent group.
2- Sirajuddin Haqqani, the son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, is the deputy leader of the Taliban movement as well as the Haqqani Network. The terror network fought Afghan and the US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan during the past two decades.
3- Mullah Yaqoob, the son of the Taliban’s founder Mullah Omar, heads the military commission of the Taliban. The commission oversees field commanders charged with executing the insurgency’s strategic operations in the war.
Taliban Leadership
| S.No. | Post | Name | Responsibilities |
| 1. | Leader/ Amir al-Mu’minin | Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada | leader since 2016, holds authority on political, religious, and military affairs. Former Taliban Chief Justice. |
| 2. | Political Deputy | Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar | Co-founder of Taliban, Head of the Political office in Doha. |
| 3. | Deputy | Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob | Military operational commander (Son of Taliban founder, Mullah Omar) |
| 4. | Deputy | Sirajuddin Haqqani | Head of Haqqani Network |
| 5. | Senior Judge | Mullah Abdul Hakeem | Oversees Taliban Judicial structure, leads negotiation team in Doha |
“The Taliban have won with the judgement of their swords and guns, and are now responsible for the honour, property and self-preservation of their countrymen,” Ghani said in a statement on Facebook, his first since fleeing.
He added, “They are now facing a new historical test. Either they will preserve the name and honour of Afghanistan or they will give priority to other places and networks.”
President Ashraf Ghani fled the country as the insurgents closed in on Kabul before they entered the city and took over the presidential palace, sealing a swift nationwide military victory in just 10 days.
The residents are fearful of the insurgent group’s hardline brand of Islam which was imposed during its 1996-2001 rule ranging from public executions, stonings, strict interpretations of Sharia law, to women and girls not being able to attend schools and colleges.
Women were allowed to venture out of their homes, provided they covered their faces and were accompanied by a male relative. Men were not allowed to trim their beards.
With the return of the Taliban, thousands can be seen escaping the country in videos that surfaced online.
