Taliban co-founder Mullah Baradar arrives in Kabul

Kabul, Aug 21 (EFE).- Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Akhund, co-founder of the Taliban and head of the insurgent group’s political office in Qatar, arrived in Kabul on Saturday from the southern city of Kandahar.

Baradar had arrived in Kandahar on Tuesday on what was apparently the first official trip by a Taliban leader to Afghanistan since the fall of its regime in 2001 during the US invasion.

Mullah Baradar, who is being speculated as Afghanistan’s next president, arrived in Kabul along with other senior Taliban leaders to participate in the ongoing talks to decide what the country’s new governance structure and its foundations will be.

“His excellency, Mullah Baradar, has arrived in Kabul and is busy in meetings and consultations (for the formation of the new government),” Taliban spokesperson Bilal Karimi told EFE, without providing further details about his arrival.

So far, the Taliban has insisted that the new government will be based on Islamic law or the Sharia.

Taliban leaders are in talks with important officials from the former government and opposition parties, who have formed an interim council to help in the transfer of power to the insurgents.

Senior members of the council are former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, Abdullah Abdullah; and the leader of the Hizb-e-Islami party and former warlord, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Mullah Baradar, 53, is one of the best known faces among the Taliban and for years was known as the right hand of Mullah Omar, the founding leader of the insurgent movement.

As head of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, he played an important role in the historic agreement with the United States in February 2020, which set a date for the final withdrawal of foreign troops, which concludes this month. EFE

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