The 7 shadowy Taliban men now running Afghanistan
For decades the Taliban’s leadership structure has been in the shadows: Even before the US invasion in 2001, little was known about how the group operates beyond the names of a few top leaders.
The senior leadership includes many Mujahideen fighters who were once trained by the US during the Cold War to battle against the invading Soviet Union forces in the 1980s.
The Sunni group’s membership is drawn largely from the majority ethnic Pashtun population.
Here are seven of the most influential men in the organisation:
Haibatullah Akhundzada
Born in 1961, Akhunzada became the Taliban’s third supreme commander — the highest rank in the organisation — after the US killed his predecessor in a 2016 drone strike. He is more known as a religious leader than a military commander, and maintains a low profile. Akhunzada hasn’t been seen in public since he became the Taliban’s top leader, and few photos of him are available.
Abdul Ghani Baradar
The Taliban’s deputy leader is the main public face of the Taliban who will likely head the next government. He was closely associated with Osama bin Laden and co-founded the Taliban along with Mullah Mohammad Omar, the one-eyed cleric who was the group’s first supreme leader.
Baradar was captured in Karachi in 2010 in a joint operation with US Intelligence, and Zalmay Khalilzad reportedly helped secure his release in 2018 ahead of peace talks with the Trump administration.
Sirajuddin Haqqani
The leader of the Haqqani Network, a Us-designated terrorist organisation, became the second deputy Taliban leader after the groups merged around 2016.
He is believed to move between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and is said to oversee finances and military assets across the two countries.
Mohammad Yaqoob
Yaqoob is the son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar, and was once considered a contender for the group’s top job because of his lineage. Few details are known about him.
News reports suggest that he was educated in a seminary in Pakistan and now lives in Afghanistan. He is believed to supervise the group’s military activities along with Sirajuddin Haqqani.
Abdul Hakim Haqqani
Believed to be close to Supreme Commander Akhunzada, Haqqani heads the Taliban’s negotiating team in charge of the peace talks with the former Us-backed government. Shermohammadabbasstanikzai
Unlike many of the group’s leaders, Stanikzai speaks fluent English and travelled the world extensively as deputy foreign minister when the militants last controlled power in Afghanistan. In 1996, he visited Washington on a failed mission to convince the Clinton administration to acknowledge the Taliban’s government.
Zabihullah Mujahed
Mujahed earlier this week addressed the Taliban’s first press conference, and is likely to play a significant role in conveying the group’s message to the international community. During 20 years of war, he communicated with journalists only over the phone or via text messages.