ISLAMABAD – The path to the US-Taliban deal came down largely to two Afghanmen — one working for the US, the other for the militants, their livesshaped by decades of conflict.
On one side was Zalmay Khalilzad — a leading US diplomat who spent theprime of his career attempting to restore order as an envoy in Afghanistanand Iraq following successive US invasions.
Across the table was Mullah Baradar, the seasoned jihadist who spent mostof his life as a fighter, first with the mujahideen during the anti-Sovietjihad and again as the Taliban’s co-founder.
More than 18 years after being toppled from power, it appears Baradar andthe Taliban — with Khalilzad’s help — are again on the verge of returningto Kabul as arguably the most united force in Afghanistan’s chaoticpolitical arena.
Here’s a quick look at the two men:
– Khalilzad, the Afghan hawk –
Born in northern Afghanistan’s Mazar-i-Sharif, Khalilzad learned the toughrealities of Afghan life from an early age. In his memoir, he recountedseeing future president Daoud Khan bite off a man’s ear during a brawl.
His life changed after he travelled to America for a high school exchangeprogramme, widening his horizons.
Leaving Afghanistan before the Soviet invasion of 1979, Khalilzad studiedat the American University of Beirut and later received a doctorate at theUniversity of Chicago, paving the way for a life in America, UScitizenship, and a career as a top diplomat and advisor in George W. Bush’sadministration.
Fluent in Pashto and Dari, Khalilzad held a commanding position as USambassador to Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005 and was instrumental in formingthe new government in Kabul.
He was also seen as having heavy influence over Afghan President HamidKarzai, shepherding him through the 2005 elections, while being criticisedfor cutting deals with brutal warlords.
Following Afghanistan, Bush tapped Khalilzad to serve as ambassador in Iraqas US forces struggled to prevent sectarian civil war while fighting asprawling insurgency.
After the Bush years, Khalilzad became a harsh critic of President BarackObama’s handling of the Afghanistan war as well as the Pakistani securityestablishment’s alleged support to the Taliban.
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In 2018, Khalilzad was again hand-picked to patch up things in Afghanistan,this time by President Donald Trump to lead negotiations with the Taliban.
The process has not gone without criticism, particularly for sideliningAfghan President Ashraf Ghani’s administration, sparking comparisons to theAmericans’ withdrawal from Vietnam in the 1970s.
– Baradar, the fighter –
Abdul Ghani Baradar was born in the arid badlands of southern Afghanistan’sUruzgan province and later raised in Kandahar — the future birthplace ofthe Taliban movement.
Like most Afghans, Baradar’s life was forever altered by the Sovietinvasion of the country in the late 1970s, transforming him into aninsurgent believed to have fought side-by-side with the one-eyed clericMullah Omar.
The two would go on to found the Taliban movement in the early 1990s amidthe chaos and corruption of the civil war that erupted after the Sovietwithdrawal.
The Taliban eventually seized the southern capital of Kandahar almostwithout a fight before capturing Kabul in 1996 and installing a hardlineIslamist regime.
Following the Taliban’s collapse in 2001, Baradar is believed to have beenamong a small group of insurgents who approached interim leader HamidKarzai — who hails from the same tribe — with a letter outlining apotential deal that would have seen the militants recognise the newadministration.
The reconciliation efforts failed and Baradar is believed to have returnedto the battlefield, where his experience as a military commander andstrategist likely helped rebuild the Taliban.
Arrested in Pakistan in 2010, Baradar was kept in custody until pressurefrom Khalilzad saw him freed in 2018 and relocate to Qatar where he wasappointed head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha in January.
Baradar is believed to be widely respected by the Taliban’s variousfactions and experts say his presence would help garner support for anydeal from insurgents on the frontlines. – APP / AFP
