PESHAWAR: A spokesman for the Afghan Taliban said on Thursday that the insurgency had appointed Taliban’s co-founder and former second-in-command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, as its deputy supreme leader for political affairs, and new head of the movement's political office in Doha, Qatar.
Baradar, who used to coordinate the Taliban’s military operations in southern Afghanistan, was arrested in 2010 by a team from Pakistan’s military intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. He was released last October.
Baradar is currently in Doha heading talks with representatives from the U.S., led by special envoy on reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, to end a conflict in Afghanistan that is stretching into its 18th year.
Negotiations between the Taliban and US officials in Qatar entered their fifth consecutive day on Friday.
"This step has been taken to strengthen and properly handle the ongoing negotiations process with the United States," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a tweet.
Fifty-one-year-old Baradar has replaced Sher Muhammad Abbas Stanekzai as the new head of the Taliban's political office.
Stanekzai, who is also a member of the 23-member Rahbari Shura, or Taliban leadership council, will continue to be part of the Qatar-based Taliban Political Commission as its joint-deputy head along with Abdul Salam Hanafi, the only ethnic Uzbek member of Shura.
Remarks by spokesman of Islamic Emirate regarding appointment of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradarhttps://justpaste.it/4vj4t pic.twitter.com/V0zFVGUYbt
— Zabihullah (ذبیح الله م ) (@Zabihullah_4) January 24, 2019
Giving Mullah Baradar two new important roles brings one of the most senior Taliban leaders into the peace talks process to counter the perception that the Taliban political office in Qatar isn’t fully empowered to negotiate with the U.S.
In a similar move a few months ago, two former Guantanamo inmates, Taliban ex-governor of Herat Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, who also served as the interior minister, and former Taliban Army Chief Mullah Muhammad Fazil, were also made part of the Taliban negotiating team in Doha.
Meanwhile, the Taliban has asked its former head of the political office, Muhammad Tayyab Agha, to rejoin as a member, a source in the Taliban's political office told Arab News.
Agha had resigned from his position in 2015 after criticizing the manner in which Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor was made the new supreme leader of the Taliban after the announcement of the death of Mullah Muhammad Omar. He had also complained about being kept in the dark about Mullah Omar’s death.
In July 2015, the Taliban iofficially confirmed Mullah Omar had been dead for more than two years, after the Afghan spy agency leaked the news. The next day, a hastily convened meeting appointed Omar’s deputy, Mullah Mansour, as leader.
The Taliban source added that Mullah Omar’s former spokesman and the Taliban’s last foreign minister, Mullah Wakeel Ahmad Muttawakil, had also been asked to join the Doha political office.
Speaking about ongoing talks with the U.S., Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP on Thursday that "discussions are still ongoing".
"We will talk in detail later when we reach agreement," the spokesman added.
