Co-founder of the Taliban and now considered number 2 in the factional hierarchy, Abdul Ghani Baradar arrived in Kabul on Saturday (21) and is expected to lead negotiations for the formation of a government structure for the fundamentalist Islamic group, which has regained power in Afghanistan this year.
Mullah Baradar, who was captured by security forces in 2010 and who had been on the run since 2018, when he took over the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, had already returned to the country on Tuesday (17). settling in Kandahar.
Spokesmen told Reuters news agency the group is expected to consolidate government formation in the coming weeks, deploying teams to deal with finance and homeland security issues.
Still according to them, there will be a crisis management office, also made up of members of the previous administration. The overall structure should not be that of a democracy by Western standards, but, in the words of the spokesperson, it will protect the rights of everyone.
The tone is the same as that adopted by another spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, earlier this week. At a press conference that was part of some sort of Taliban offensive to show restraint, he denied retaliation against former adversaries and said women’s rights would be protected – under “the framework”. of Islam ”.
In the same vein, an interview of summit member Waheedullah Hashimi with Reuters underlined, among the points of the proposed government, that it would not be a democratic system, “because it has no basis in our country. ; it is sharia ”.
Baradar, who would have on his agenda meetings with military, local and religious leaders, should also meet leaders of the Haqqani network, according to AFP. This radical group, considered terrorist by the United States and the UN, has been entrusted with the security of the capital, Kabul, by the Taliban.