New Delhi: After a 20-year long war, the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan with the withdrawal of American troops. The Taliban, a militant group that ran the country in the late 1990s, captured major cities across the country after Afghan security forces were trained and equipped by the US and its allies.
With this takeover by the extremist group, many fear it will once again impose a harsher interpretation of Islamic law, which they relied on during their 1996 to 2001 rule.
However, the Taliban have said they want to form an “inclusive, Islamic government” with other factions, which they are in talks with senior politicians, including former government leaders.
According to AP news agency, the Taliban have promised to enforce Islamic law but encouraged women to join their government, saying they would provide a safe environment for a return to normal life after decades of war.
Here’s a Look at the Taliban Leadership That Inspired Change
Abdul Ghani Baradar: Abdul Ghani Baradar, the co-founder of the Taliban and now known as the undisputed victor of the Afghanistan War, returned to the country after 20 years. In 2001, Baradar was driven out of Afghanistan and the Taliban leadership claimed that the leader had arrived in Kandahar from Qatar. According to reports, he has been the public face of the Taliban for years and is also likely to become the new president. Although Haibatullah Akhundzada is the overall leader of this organization, Baradar’s return to the country with the fall of Kabul signals a mobilization to form a new government.
Haibatullah Akhundzada: Haibatullah Akhundzada, a low-profile religious leader, has been appointed leader before climbing the ranks after his predecessor Mullah Mansoor Akhtar was killed in a US drone strike in 2016. Haibatullah Akhundzada, 60, received a pledge of loyalty from al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahir. , who called him “the rich man of the faithful”. His public profile is limited to the release of annual Islamic holiday messages. Akhundzada was killed along with several other Taliban leaders in a bombing at a safe house in Pakistan’s Balochistan last year, according to a report published by Afghanistan’s daily Hasht-e-Subh earlier this year.
Sirajuddin Haqqani: The son of a renowned commander of anti-Soviet jihad, Jalaluddin Haqqani has achieved a dual role as deputy leader of the Taliban and head of the powerful Haqqani Network, a US-designated terrorist group. The terrorist group is considered to be a terrorist group that has been insurgent against the Afghan government and US-led NATO forces for the past two decades.
Also known for carrying out several high-profile attacks using suicide bombers, the terrorist network has been accused of killing top Afghan officials and kidnapping Western civilians for ransom, including US soldier Bowe Bergdahl. He was released in 2014 after five years of imprisonment.
Mulla Yakub: Mullah Yacoub is the son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar, who heads the group’s powerful military commission. His ancestry and relationship with his father made him a unified figure, but analysts say his appointment in 2020 was merely a sham. Believed to be in his early 30s, he is considered the Taliban’s next supreme leader.
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