ns Taliban He is forced to deny that deputy leader Mulla Baradar has been killed after wild rumors surfaced that he was killed during an encounter with his political rivals.
The Taliban insisted today that Baradar is meeting with the group’s supreme leader in Kandahar province, Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada, to discuss the issue. AfghanistanAmerica’s future is now backwards.
But rumors circulating on social media believe he was actually killed in a gun battle on Friday at Kabul’s Rashtrapati Bhavan, which broke out during a meeting with the powerful and brutal Haqqani family.
The Taliban have so far presented a handwritten note and an audio recording as evidence that Baradar is alive – which has only added to the speculation.
The Taliban have been forced to refute wild rumors that deputy leader Mullah Baradar was shot dead during a confrontation in Kabul last week (pictured, Taliban guards in Kabul)
Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem released the audio recording on Monday.
A man claiming to be equal in this accused ‘media propagandists’ of spreading false rumors about him – insisting ‘me and all my comrades are fine’.
Baradar said in the clip, ‘There was news of my death in the media.’
‘I’ve been on trips for the last few nights. Wherever I am at the moment, we are all fine, all my brothers and friends.
The only evidence the Taliban has presented is a handwritten note (pictured) and an audio recording, which further spreads the rumour.
‘The media always publishes fake propaganda. So, bravely dismiss all those lies, and I confirm 100 percent that there is no problem and we have no problem.’
A handwritten note was also circulated after the recording was posted to Twitter, insisting that Baradar was alive.
The note – which was signed not by Baradar but by a deputy, Mawlawi Musa Kalim – denied that there had been a shootout in the palace and said that Baradar was in Kandahar.
Muhammad Suhail Shaheen, the group’s senior-most spokesman, who lives in Kabul, also rubbished the rumours.
“The reports of Mulla Baradar Akhund being injured or killed are baseless and not true, I categorically deny them,” he said.
Rumors about Baradar’s security began to circulate last week when the Taliban announced their new government and named him as deputy prime minister, despite widespread belief that he would take the top post.
This sparked speculation that he had been demoted because of fighting between the Taliban and founding members of the Haqqani network – a powerful Taliban faction whose family members were at the helm of the new administration.
Speculation about Baradar’s health intensified over the weekend after he was absent from a high-level summit with Qatar amid reports of a political battle.
Speculation intensified when Taliban leaders met senior Qatari representatives in Kabul on Sunday, with Baradar conspicuously absent from the meeting.
Three members of the Haqqani family were at the summit along with other members of the new Afghan government led by Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund.
Baradar is one of the founding members of the Taliban and previously served as deputy to its supreme leader Mullah Omar, who died of tuberculosis in 2013.
After Omar’s death, Baradar took over as leader of the Taliban’s political wing and is one of the group’s most senior figures.
But his Haqqani family is believed to be in conflict with leaders of the Haqqani network, which are affiliated with the Taliban but also linked to terrorist groups opposing Islamists – such as ISIS-K.
Two members of the clan – Sirajuddin and Khalil – now hold senior positions in the new government, taking on the roles of Minister of the Interior and Minister of Refugee.
Anna Haqqani also plays a role as a high-level negotiator, and was present during the meeting with Qatari diplomats.
Baradar, one of the founding members of the Taliban, has been seen in public only a few times since returning to Afghanistan last month.
Adding to the rumours is the fact that the Taliban had previously covered up the death of leader Mullah Omar for two years.
It was only after Afghan intelligence disclosed his death in 2015 that the Taliban publicly confirmed it.
The Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, was also rumored to have died for several years before the group took control of Afghanistan.
Since then, Islamists have claimed that he is alive and in the country – somewhere in Kandahar province.
Akhundzada rarely appears in public, perhaps explaining why the Taliban are reluctant to release Baradar’s photos if the pair are meeting.
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