US, Taliban spokesman on ‘fooling’ Afghan forces: ‘I didn’t exist for them, I was right under their nose’

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, who appeared before the media at a news conference for the first time in a decade after the insurgent group captured Kabul last month, said he lived under the noses of his opponents in the Afghan capital. He was considered ‘one’. Ghost-like figure during battle.

The Mujahid, who worked in the shadows for years, also admitted that he studied at the Haqqaniya madrasa in Nowshera, northwest Pakistan, which is also known internationally as Taliban University or ‘Jihad University’.

Mujahid told The Express Tribune newspaper in an interview, “They (the US and the Afghan National Forces) thought I didn’t exist. I escaped their raids and attempts to capture me so many times that they seriously believed that Zabiullah ” Was. A sculpted figure, not a real person who exists,” said the 43-year-old spokesperson.

“And yet, I managed to go about Afghanistan independently. I think that perception helped with that,” he explained. “I lived in Kabul for a long time, under everyone’s nose. I roamed the breadth and breadth of the country. I even managed to reach the frontline for the first time, where the Taliban carried out their tasks, and updated information This was quite a surprise to our detractors. Due to his shadowy appearance for years, there was speculation whether the faceless spokesperson could actually be more than one person.

“The US military often paid locals to get some information about my whereabouts. Using that information, as I said, they may have launched dozens of intelligence-based operations hoping to find out something about me,” he said.

“But I never gave up or even tried to think about trying to leave Afghanistan.”

Mujahid, who was born sometime in 1978 in the Gardez district of Paktia province, said he specialized in Islamic jurisprudence from the Haqqaniyya seminary in northwest Pakistan. The Taliban government’s acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, Water and Energy Minister Mullah Abdul Latif Mansoor and Telecommunications Minister Najibullah Haqqani are all on the UN blacklist – and Education Minister Maulana Abdul Baqi Haqqani studied at the Haqqaniah madrassa, which is regularly attended. Subsidies have been received from successive governments. Pakistan.

Mujahid said he became a Taliban spokesman after the arrest of his predecessor. He also said that he had never seen Mullah Omar, the founder of the Taliban. “But I have worked with Sheikh Mullah Mansoor and Sheikh Hebatullah,” he said, referring to Mullah Omar’s successors.

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