Afghanistan crisis: Who's who behind the Taliban leadership
Premium- The hardline Islamic group appears to be on the brink of regaining power
The Taliban movement's inner workings and leadership have always been largely shrouded in secrecy, even during their rule of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
As the hardline Islamic group appears to be on the brink of regaining power, here is a rundown of what little is known about its leadership.
Haibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader
Haibatullah Akhundzada was appointed leader of the Taliban in a swift power transition after a US drone strike killed his predecessor, Mullah Mansour Akhtar, in 2016.
Before ascending the movement's ranks, Akhundzada was a low-profile religious figure. He is widely believed to have been selected to serve more as a spiritual figurehead than a military commander.
After being appointed leader, Akhundzada secured a pledge of loyalty from Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, who showered the religious scholar with praise -- calling him "the emir of the faithful".
This which helped seal his jihadi credentials with the group's long-time allies.
Akhundzada was tasked with the enormous challenge of unifying a militant movement that briefly fractured during a bitter power struggle following the assassination of his predecessor, and the revelation that the leadership had hid the death of Taliban founder Mullah Omar for years.
The leader's public profile has been largely limited to the release of annual messages during Islamic holidays.
- Mullah Baradar, the founder -
Abdul Ghani Baradar was raised in Kandahar -- the birthplace of the Taliban movement.
Like most Afghans, Baradar's life was forever altered by the Soviet invasion of the country in the late 1970s, transforming him into an insurgent.
He was believed to have fought side-by-side with the one-eyed cleric Mullah Omar.
The two would go on to found the Taliban movement in the early 1990s amid the chaos and corruption of the civil war that erupted after the Soviet withdrawal.
Following the Taliban's collapse in 2001, Baradar is believed to have been among a small group of insurgents who approached interim leader Hamid Karzai with a letter outlining a potential deal that would have seen the militants recognise the new administration.
Arrested in Pakistan in 2010, Baradar was kept in custody until pressure from the United States saw him freed in 2018 and relocated to Qatar.
This is where he was appointed head of the Taliban's political office and oversaw the signing of the withdrawal agreement with the Americans.
- Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Haqqani Network -
The son of the famed commander from the anti-Soviet jihad, Jalaluddin Haqqani.
Sirajuddin doubles as both the deputy leader of the Taliban movement while also heading the powerful Haqqani network.
The Haqqani Network is a US-designated terror group that has long been viewed as one of the most dangerous factions fighting Afghan and US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan during the past two decades.
The group is infamous for its use of suicide bombers and is believed to have orchestrated some of the most high-profile attacks in Kabul over the years.
The network has also been accused of assassinating top Afghan officials and holding kidnapped Western citizens for ransom -- including US soldier Bowe Bergdahl, released in 2014.
Known for their independence, fighting acumen, and savvy business dealings, the Haqqanis are believed to oversee operations in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan, while holding considerable sway over the Taliban's leadership council.
- Mullah Yaqoob, the scion -
The son of the Taliban's founder Mullah Omar.
Mullah Yaqoob heads the group's powerful military commission, which oversees a vast network of field commanders charged with executing the insurgency's strategic operations in the war.
His lineage and ties to his father -- who enjoyed a cult-like status as the Taliban's leader -- serves as a potent symbol and makes him a unifying figure over a sprawling movement.
However speculation remains rife about Yaqoob's exact role within the movement, with some analysts arguing that his appointment to the role in 2020 was merely cosmetic.
Taliban on outskirts of Afghan capital, poised to take power
The Taliban was on the brink of total victory in Afghanistan on Sunday, with its fighters ordered to wait on the outskirts of the capital and the government conceding it was preparing for a "transfer of power".
The Taliban's militants surrounded Kabul following an astonishing rout of government forces and warlord militias achieved in just 10 days.
The fall of Kabul would see the hardline Islamic group take back power two decades after US-led forces toppled it in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
"The Islamic Emirate instructs all its forces to stand at the gates of Kabul, not to try to enter the city," a spokesman for the Taliban tweeted as residents reported insurgents on the outskirts of the city.
"Until the completion of the transition process, the responsibility for the security of Kabul is with the other side (the Afghan government)".
President Ashraf Ghani -- who most expect to resign in days, if not hours -- conceded as much, and in a video message released to media urged what remains of his security forces to maintain law and order.
There are fears of a security vacuum in the capital as thousands of police and other armed services members have abandoned their posts, uniforms and even weapons.
"It is our responsibility and we will do it in the best possible manner," Ghani said, hours after the Taliban seized two nearby prisons and released thousands of inmates.
"Anyone who thinks about chaos, plunder or looting will be tackled with force," he added.
The government signalled earlier there were negotiations underway to avoid bloodshed in Kabul, and to hand power to the Taliban.
"The Afghan people should not worry... there will be no attack on the city and there will be a peaceful transfer of power to the transitional government," Interior Minister Abdul Sattar Mirzakwal said in a recorded speech.
But the Taliban's imminent takeover triggered fear and panic in Kabul among residents fearful of the group's hardline brand of Islam.
- Isolated -
The scale and speed of the insurgents' advance have shocked Afghans and the US-led alliance that poured billions into the country over the past two decades.
Ghani's government was left completely isolated on Sunday after the insurgents overran the anti-Taliban northern stronghold of Mazar-i-Sharif and the eastern city of Jalalabad.
Like with most of the other captured cities, the seizure of power came after government forces surrendered or retreated.
It left the Taliban holding all the cards in any negotiated surrender of the capital.
- Evacuations -
President Joe Biden ordered the deployment of an additional 1,000 US troops to help secure the emergency evacuation from Kabul of embassy employees and thousands of Afghans who worked for American forces and now fear Taliban reprisals.
That was on top of the 3,000 American soldiers deployed in recent days, and 1,000 left in-country after Biden announced in May that the final withdrawal of the 20-year military presence in Afghanistan would be completed by September 11.
That decision has come under increased scrutiny given the collapse of the Afghan armed forces, but he insisted Saturday there was no choice.
"I was the fourth president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan -- two Republicans, two Democrats. I would not, and will not, pass this war onto a fifth," Biden said.
Videos posted on pro-Taliban social media accounts showed the group's heavily armed fighters in cities across the country, waving white flags and greeting locals.
Most of the fighters appeared young, suggesting they were most likely infants or unborn when the Taliban was toppled from power in 2001.
In Mazar-i-Sharif, warlords Abdul Rashid Dostum and Atta Mohammad Noor, who had led a militia resistance in the city to support government forces, had fled to Uzbekistan, about 30 kilometres to the north, an aide to Noor said.
- Panic -
As the Taliban closed in on the capital, panicked residents swarmed banks for a second straight day, hoping to withdraw their savings.
Many were already resigned to the Taliban taking power.
"My only wish is that their return leads to peace. That is all we want," said Kabul shopkeeper Tariq Nezami.
There were also signs people were already resigned to changing their lives to accommodate the resurgent regime.
A worker was seen Sunday whitewashing advertising billboards on a beauty parlour featuring a glamorous bride.
For the tens of thousands who have sought refuge in Kabul in recent weeks, the overwhelming mood was one of apprehension and fear.
One doctor who arrived in the capital with his 35-strong family from Kunduz said he planned to return today.
"I am worried there will be a lot of fighting here. I would rather return home, where I know it has stopped," he told AFP, asking not to be named.
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