Saturday, August 21, 2021
Will Baradar become head of government?
Taliban deputy chief arrives in Kabul
The Taliban control almost all of Afghanistan, but it is still unclear what will happen to the country. Now the deputy head of the extremists arrives in Kabul. Taliban circles say that he wants to form an “inclusive government”.
About a week after the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar arrived in Kabul for talks about forming a government. Baradar will “meet with jihadist leaders and politicians to form an inclusive government,” said a senior Taliban official. The deputy chief of the Taliban returned to Afghanistan on Tuesday.
Baradar is being traded as a possible new head of government, but the Taliban themselves have not yet given any details about the planned government. The Taliban co-founder was imprisoned in Pakistan in 2010 until he was released under pressure from the United States and transferred to Qatar in 2018. Baradar last headed the Taliban’s political office in Qatar. Among other things, he was responsible for signing an agreement with the government of then US President Donald Trump in February 2020 that regulated the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.
Several other Taliban leaders had been sighted in the Afghan capital in the past few days – including Chalil Hakkani, the uncle of the deputy Taliban leader Siradschuddin Hakkani. Chalil Hakkani is one of the most wanted terrorists in the United States. A ransom of five million dollars (around 4.2 million euros) was placed on his head. It is unclear where the Taliban leader Haibatullah Achundsada and his two other deputies Mullah Jakub and Siradschuddin Hakkani are and when they could arrive in Kabul.
Pictures in the online media showed Chalil Hakkani at a meeting with Gulbuddin Hekmatjar, a former Afghan militia leader. Leading member Anas Hakkani was also recently in Kabul. He met with former President Hamid Karzai and government member Abdullah Abdullah. The Taliban marched into Kabul on Sunday after a swift campaign of conquest, returning to power almost 20 years after the invasion of Afghanistan by Western troops. Tens of thousands of people are currently trying to flee the country.
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