KABUL – Analysts familiar with Taliban say Mullah Ghani Baradar is rankedas the most powerful figure among the Taliban leadership.
There is less information about Mullah Baradar’s personal and public life.He spent nine years in a Pakistani jail. He is sometimes branded as topthinker and a respected war veteran who is expected to take the peaceprocess with the US into a final conclusion.
He was named as Baradar (brother)by Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar.
According to Taliban’s Al Emarah website, Baradar is originally a native ofDeh Rahwod district of southern Uruzgan province while some others say thatBaradar belongs to Popalzai tribe of Kandahar province.
After completing his religious studies, the 50-year-old Baradar joined theAfghan Jihadi groups who were fighting against the Soviet forces in thesouthern Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces alongside Taliban’s founding leaderMullah Mohammad Omar.
There are reports that Baradar advanced to the rank of deputy defenseminister before the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001. He also served asdeputy to Omar and there are rumors about some sort of family ties betweenthe two.
“Currently, Mullah Baradar is the most powerful personality among theTaliban. He is the most powerful figure after Mullah Mohammad Omar,” saidMullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, Taliban ambassador to Pakistan during theirregime in Kabul – 1996 to 2001.
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Baradar’s name initially came into public discussion back in 2010 when hewas arrested by the Pakistani intelligence during a trip to the Pakistaniport city of Karachi. Later on, some photographs gone viral on socialmedia, but with the passage of time, it was confirmed that the man in thephotographs was not Baradar.
Now that Baradar has been assigned as head of Taliban’s political office inQatar, a spokesman to the group has sent a picture of him which is notvisible and also the Taliban is not willing to comment on his personality.
“Peace will come if he [Mullah Baradar] is given the time and if he isallowed to work in a wider environment,” said Mawlawi Manzoor AhmadHussaini, Taliban’s former military commander in the southwest Afghanistan.
In a statement on Monday evening, Taliban said that Mullah Abdul GhaniBaradar traveled in a special flight to Doha by invitation of Qatar’sMinistry of Foreign Affairs.
source:link
