Mullah Baradar on Time Magazine's list of '100 Most Influential People of 2021', here’s more about Taliban leader

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar led the Taliban in negotiations with the US during the peace deal. He is considered to be a quiet, secretive man who rarely gives public statements.

File Photo

New Delhi: The deputy prime minister in the Taliban's newly announced caretaker government and Taliban co-founder, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has been named among the 100 most influential people of 2021 by Time magazine. 

Additionally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla are also among the world's 100 most influential people of 2021 by TIME magazine. 

Who is Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar?

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is co-founder of Taliban and was once a close friend of the Taliban's reclusive original leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, who gave him his nom de guerre "Baradar" or "brother". During the peace deal, Mullah Baradar led the Taliban in negotiations with the US. He also served as deputy defence minister when the Taliban last ruled Afghanistan.

Baradar served as a senior military commander responsible for attacks on coalition forces, following the fall of the Taliban government, a UN sanctions notice said. 

Born in Uruzgan province in 1968, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar fought in the Afghan Mujahideen against the Soviets in the 1980s. In 1989, after the Russians withdrew, civil war broke out between warring parties in Afghanistan. It was then that Baradar set up a madrassa in Kandahar with Omar, his former commander and brother-in-law. 

Taliban co-founder and acting Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar refuted the internal rift in the new caretaker government of Taliban in Afghanistan and also denied that he was injured in a clash at the presidential palace in Kabul.

Baradar in an interview with Afghan national TV, which was posted on Twitter by the Taliban`s political office in Doha refuted rumours that he had been injured or even killed in a dispute last week at the presidential palace in Kabul, reported CNN.

When asked about the rumours, Baradar said, "No, this is not true at all. Praise be to God I am fit and well. And with regards to media claiming that we have an internal disagreement that is not true either. Praise be to God, we have a lot of kindness and mercy amongst us, such that does not even exist in a family. In addition, for many years, we have suffered and given sacrifices, in order to end the occupation. That is neither for power nor for the position."

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar on Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan

The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, while some experts said was inevitable, but almost everyone was taken by surprise at the speed in which it all happened. "It was never expected that we will have victory in Afghanistan. Now comes the test. We must meet the challenge of serving and securing our nation, and giving it a stable life going forward," Baradar said after the Taliban captured Kabul.

(With Agency inputs)