Meet Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who may become next president of Afghanistan

One of the co-founders of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar now heads the political office of the Taliban and is part of the negotiating team that the group has in Doha to try and thrash out a political deal that could pave the way for a ceasefire and more lasting peace in Afghanistan. 

He was believed to have fought side-by-side with Mullah Omar during the Soviet invasion in the 1970s. He grew up in Kandahar - the Taliban stronghold. The two founded the Taliban movement in the early 1990s amid the chaos and corruption of the civil war that erupted after the Soviet withdrawal. Baradar, who was reported to have been one of Taliban founder Mullah Omar`s most trusted commanders, was captured in 2010 by security forces in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi and released in 2018 and was relocated to Qatar. He was then appointed head of the Taliban’s political office and oversaw the signing of the withdrawal agreement with the Americans.

After the Taliban’s collapse in 2001, it is believed that Baradar was among a small group of insurgents who approached interim leader Hamid Karzai with a letter outlining a potential deal that would have seen the militants recognise the new administration.

Pakistan has always supported the Taliban and helped it with political, military and financial support.

In July 2021, China hosted a nine-member Taliban delegation led by Baradar amid its recent ascendancy in Afghanistan, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi describing the group as “a pivotal military and political force” in the country. 

In 2020, the then US President Donald Trump spoke to Baradar and discussed progress towards achieving peace in Afghanistan. According to the White House readout of the telephonic conversation, Trump “emphasised the need to continue the reduction in violence, which made possible the signing of the historic United States-Taliban agreement on February 29.” 

Hours after the Taliban entered Kabul and wrested control over the capital of Afghanistan, Baradar on Sunday said that the terror group's victory, which saw all of the country's major cities fall in a week, was unexpectedly swift and had no match in the world. In a short video message, he said the real test would begin now with meeting the expectations of the people and serving them by resolving their problems, Al Jazeera reported. According to reports, Baradar is likely to be declared as Afghanistan’s new President.

(With agency inputs)