These Are the New Leaders of Afghanistan After the Return of the Taliban to Power

After controlling most of Afghanistan in a matter of days, thanks to an astonishingly fast military campaign, the Taliban, which ruled the country from 1996 to 2001, has reached the capital, Kabul.

The movement returned to power after President Ashraf Ghani fled and the army surrendered, according to the French newspaper Le Point.

In 2021, the process of withdrawing international forces from Afghanistan began within the framework of the peace agreement reached by the United States and the Taliban movement in February 2020.

The agreement stipulated not to attack foreign forces, but it did not address Taliban operations against Afghan security forces.

In May 2021, the Taliban Began expanding its influence in Afghanistan, coinciding with the start of the last stage of the withdrawal of US forces, which was scheduled to be completed by August 31 of the same year.

In less than 10 days, the movement took control of almost all of Afghanistan, despite billions of dollars spent by the United States and NATO over nearly 20 years to build Afghan security forces.

According to the French newspaper, LaCroix, “if the movement retained a solid core of leaders who emerged in the last decade of the 20th century, 20 years of conflict led to the emergence of new personalities at the forefront.”

The United Nations, on its part, confirmed that the Taliban had approximately 80,000 soldiers in its ranks in 2020.

A review presented by the French "Le Point" and "LaCroix" listed the names of 5 most prominent Taliban leaders.

They are: The founder Mullah Omar, the leader of the movement, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzadeh, the co-founder Abdul Ghani Barader, the second man, Sirajuddin Haqqani, and the head of the movement's military committee, Muhammad Yaqoub, the son of Mullah Omar.

 

Founder: Mullah Omar

The movement was almost associated with the little-known figure in the media, Mullah Omar, the founder of the Taliban, but he was killed in 2013.

The leaders of the movement conceal the news of the death of Omar, the historical leader of the Taliban, for two years from the world, and from the majority of the organization's members.

With the death of the founder, Akhtar Mansour was appointed as his successor in 2015, but he was also killed a year later in a drone strike in Pakistan, which was personally approved by US President Barack Obama.

 

Supreme Guide

The management of the movement went to Heibullah Akhundzadeh, the former head of the Taliban's Islamic Courts, in May 2016, with a swift transfer of power days after Akhtar Mansour's death.

Akhundzadeh soon secured a pledge of allegiance from the Egyptian al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who called him "Commander of the Faithful".

Like Mullah Omar, Akhundzadeh traces his origins to an Afghan cleric from the province of Kandahar, the heart of the Pashtun state in southern Afghanistan and the cradle of the Taliban.

Before his appointment as the leader of the Taliban, little was known about him, but he was more knowledgeable in judicial and religious matters than in the art of war.

In the 1990s, he assured the task of developing the group's "Sharia law" in Afghanistan before joining the movement's governing body in the first decade of the 21st century.

While this researcher had great influence in the Taliban and led the judiciary, some analysts believe that his role at the head of the movement is more symbolic than practical.

Indeed, Akhundzadeh's delicate task was to unite the Taliban, which had been driven by a fierce struggle for power after the death of Mullah Mansour. He managed to maintain the movement’s unity. 

 

Founding Partner

Born in Uruzgan province in southern Afghanistan and raised in Kandahar, Abdul Ghani Baradar is one of the founders of the movement with Mullah Omar.

Like many Afghans, his life was changed by the Soviet invasion in 1979, which led him to be one of the Afghan mujahideen, believed to have fought alongside Mullah Omar.

History says that during the American invasion he was the military leader of the Taliban, but he escaped with his friend Mullah Omar on a motorcycle.

He was arrested in 2010 during a joint operation between the CIA and ISI in Karachi, Pakistan.

However, he was released in 2018 at the request of Washington, which at the time was trying to launch negotiations with the Taliban.

He was said to have been among the first within the movement to encourage discussions with Washington, though it is a very sensitive topic, while his status as co-founder of the movement allowed him to work on the subject.

Barader is now the Taliban's first deputy and foreign minister, and head of the movement's political committee in the Qatari capital, Doha.

He led negotiations with America to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan and was responsible for negotiations with the Afghan government over a peace agreement that did not materialize.

 

Head of the Haqqani Network

Sirajuddin Haqqani is the son of the famous leader of the Afghan Mujahideen against the Soviet occupation, Jalaluddin Haqqani, who is the second most important person in the Taliban.

Commander Haibatullah Akhundzadeh has the support of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the "Haqqani Network", the effective armed wing of the Taliban.

According to a United Nations report published in 2021, Sirajuddin Haqqani is wanted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is offering a reward of $5 million (4.2 million euros) for information leading to his arrest.

The United Nations memo explaining the sentence of this military commander stated that "Sirajuddin Haqqani derives much of his power and rule from his father, Jalaluddin Haqqani, a former minister under the Taliban regime."

Washington described the Haqqani network, founded by his father, as a "terrorist", and considered it one of the most dangerous factions fighting US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Haqqani was accused of assassinating some senior Afghan officials and holding Westerners hostage before releasing them for ransom or as prisoners.

Like US soldier Bo Bergdahl, who was released in 2014 in exchange for five Afghan detainees from Guantanamo.

It is said: Haqqani is known for his independence, fighting skills and stunts. He is responsible for Taliban's operations in the mountainous regions of eastern Afghanistan. He has a strong influence on the movement's decisions.

 

Heir of the Movement

Since 2015, Muhammad Yaqoob has witnessed a sharp rise in prestige within the Taliban, especially as he is the eldest son of Mullah Omar, the movement's founder, although he was not fully known during his father's life.

Nevertheless, his association with his father, who was highly regarded as the leader of the Taliban, made him a popular figure among Taliban members.

Yaqoob became one of the group's three deputy leaders as well as the head of the Taliban's powerful military committee, which takes strategic decisions and directions in the war against the Afghan government.

He was described as ambitious and competent, and it is said that he took advantage of Heibullah Akhundzadeh's infection with the "Corona" virus in the summer of 2020, to expand his influence until the recovery of the commander in chief, the temporary leader of the movement.

According to a secret NATO report disclosed by the American media, "Radio Free Europe" and "Radio Liberty" in 2020, Yaqoob has controlled a huge financial fortune. 

That wealth is estimated by the report to be equivalent to 1.4 billion euros for the fiscal year 2020.

Yaqoob, 30 years old, represents the new generation that did not know the "Islamic Emirate" in the 1990s.

However, speculation about his role in the movement continues, with some analysts believing that his appointment as chairman of the military committee in 2020 was only symbolic.