Kabul: The Taliban have named the co-founder of the group as the head of their political office in Qatar with an aim to strengthen ongoing negotiations with the US to put an end to the Afghan conflict. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has been appointed the deputy of the Leader in Political Affairs and the chief of the Political Office of the Islamic Emirate, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement, reports Efe news Mullah Baradar, whose real name is Abdul Ghani Baradar, was released in Pakistan in October.
Before his arrest in 2010, he was believed to be the military chief of the terror group, led by Mullah Omar, who died in 2013, although the news was made public only two years later. “This step has been taken to strengthen and properly handle the ongoing negotiations process with the US,” the spokesperson added in the statement.
He said that “with the appointment of the esteemed Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the negotiation team of the Islamic Emirate will continue their talks with the US”. A fourth round of talks between the Taliban and the US began in Qatar earlier this week.
Baradar’s release in October had coincided with the Taliban agreeing to begin peace talks with the US although they had refused to hold direct talks with the Afghan government, calling it a puppet of the US. In recent months, the Taliban and US have held several meetings in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. The militants had also met Iranian representatives in Tehran.
Last week, the Taliban had threatened to stall all peace negotiations after the US refused to discuss the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan. Since the end of the NATO combat mission in January 2015, the Afghan government has been steadily losing ground to the Taliban. The government currently barely controls 56 percent of the country, according to data from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction of the US Congress.
