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Abdul Ghani Baradar is an Afghan political and religious leader.
Biography
Birth
Informations on Abdul's birth aren't certain. In fact, according to the United Nations Security Council Consolidated List, Abdul was born in 1968 in the Yatimak village of Deh Rawood District in Uruzgan Province of the Kingdom of Afghanistan. However, his identity documents clames that his year of birth is 1963 and his date and place of birth is the 29th September 1963 in Uruzgan.
Meeting with Muhammad Omar Mujahid
According to Dutch journalist Bette Dam, he and Muhammed Omar became friends when they were teenagers, but Newsweek says that Omar and Baradar may be brothers-in-law via marriage to two sisters.
During the Soviet-Afghan War
He fought during the the Soviet–Afghan War in Kandahar, serving as Omar's deputy in a group of Afghan mujahideen against the Soviet-backed Afghan government. He later operated a madrassa in Maiwand, Kandahar Province.
Foundation of the Taliban
In 1994, he was one of four men, who founded the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. During Taliban rule (1996–2001), Baradar held a variety of posts: he was reportedly governor of Herat and Nimruz provinces, and/or the Corps Commander for western Afghanistan, Deputy Chief of Army Staff, Commander of Central Army Corps and Deputy Minister of Defense.
War in Afghanistan
After Al-Qaeda's attack on the 11th September 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan and deposed the Taliban with the help of Afghan forces. Baradar fought against the U.S.-supported Northern Alliance and, according to Newsweek, he hopped on a motorcycle and drove his old friend Omar to safety in the mountains in November 2001 as Taliban defenses were crumbling.
After, the new Afghan government was created. Now, Baradar found himself fighting international forces and the newly formed Afghan government. Baradar eventually rose to lead the Quetta Shura and became the leader of the Taliban, directing the insurgency from Pakistan.
Arrestement
Baradar was arrested by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) towards late January or early February 2010 in Karachi. Eventually, he was released in mid-October 2018.
Aftermath
Baradar was appointed a deputy to the supreme leader of the Taliban and the chief of the Taliban's political office, in January 2019. Then, in February 2020, Baradar signed the Doha Agreement on the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan on behalf of the Taliban. On the 17th August 2021, Baradar returned to Afghanistan for the first time since the fall of the first Taliban government in 2001.
Overthrown of the government of Ashraf Ghani
After the overthrown of Ashraf Ghani's government in Afghanistan in August 2021, it was rumored that he would have become the president of Afghanistan. On the 23rd August 2021, CIA Director William J. Burns held a secret meeting with Baradar in Kabul to discuss the 31th August deadline for a U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Trivia
- He is a Zirak Durrani Pashtun of the Sadozai tribe, a sub-tribe of the Popalzai.
- On the 15th September 2021, Baradar was listed on the Time magazine as one of the "100 Most Influential People in 2021".