Hyderabad: The Taliban's co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar arrived in Kabul on Saturday for talks with fellow members of the group and other politicians on establishing a new Afghan government, AFP reported.
Earlier, Baradar arrived in Afghanistan on August 17 from Qatar but preferred to stay in Kandahar, the Taliban's spiritual birthplace.
It was rumoured that Baradar will become the president of Afghanistan following the overthrow of the government of Ashraf Ghani by the Taliban in August 2021.
It may be recalled that Baradar signed the Doha Agreement in February 2020 on the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan on behalf of the Taliban.
A Short Profile of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar: Born in 1968 in the Weetmak village of Deh Rahwod District in Uruzgan Province of Afghanistan, Baradar is a Durrani Pashtun of the Sadozai tribe which is a sub-tribe of Popalzai. He and Mohammed Omar — the notorious Afghan mullah and mujahid commander who led the Taliban and founded the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in 1996 — became friends when they were teenagers.
Baradar came to the limelight during the 1980s in the Soviet-Afghan War in Kandahar serving as Omar's deputy in a group of Afghan mujahideen against the Soviet-backed Afghan government. It was Omar who gave Mullah Abdul Ghani the nom de guerre 'Baradar', which means 'brother', because of their close proximity. Later, he operated a madrassa in Maiwand, Kandahar Province, alongside Omar. Some reports even suggest Omar and Baradar may be brothers-in-law via marriage to two sisters. In 1994, he was one of four men, including Omar, who founded the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
During Taliban rule in 1996–2001, Baradar held a number of key posts. He was reportedly the governor of Herat and Nimruz provinces and the Corps Commander for western Afghanistan.
