Taliban deputy leader and co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar returned to Afghanistan, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid was quoted saying by AFP.
Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban leader freed from a Pakistani jail on the request of the US less than three years ago, has emerged as an "undisputed victor" of the 20-year war in Afghanistan.
While Haibatullah Akhundzada is the Taliban's overall leader, Baradar is its political chief and its most public face.
Baradar is rumoured and likely to be new Afghan president after Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
Baradar on Sunday said that the terror group's victory that saw all cities of the country fall to them in just 10 days was unexpectedly swift and had no match in the world. In a video message, he said the real test would begin now with meeting the expectations of the people and serving them by resolving their problems, Al Jazeera reported.
In a televised statement on the fall of Kabul, he said the Taliban's real test was only just beginning and that they had to serve the nation, The Guardian newspaper reported on Sunday.
Pakistan reportedly released the Afghan Taliban leader from prison in October 2018 after being arrested by Pakistani authorities in the southern port city of Karachi in 2010.
Baradar signed the Doha agreement with the US in February 2020, in what the Trump administration hailed as a breakthrough towards peace but which now appears a mere staging post towards total Taliban victory.
