A senior Taliban spokesman announced on Wednesday that its leaders will show themselves to the world, a step change from the shadowy world they had previously inhabited.Source: https://news.sky.com/story/afghanistan-whos-who-in-the-new-talibans-inner-circle-12384557
For the first time on Tuesday, the world saw a leader who had only ever spoken to western media by phone, although they knew his name well.
"Slowly, gradually, the world will see all our leaders, there will be no shadow of secrecy," the senior Taliban official told Reuters on Wednesday.
It comes amid claims by Taliban spokesmen - they are all men - that there will be no reprisals, women's rights (under Islamic law) will be respected, terrorists will not be able to operate from Afghan soil and law and order will be maintained.
But who is in the inner circle of the new Taliban's leadership?
Sheikh Hibatullah Akhundzada
The group's supreme commander, designate Emir and commander of the faithful, has yet to be seen in public since the Taliban swept to power in Kabul.
A former member of the mujahideen resisting the Soviet invasion, Akhundzada became one of the earliest members of the Taliban in 1994 and held several offices during its period in power - especially in guiding its religious direction and promotion of "virtue".
After the US invasion in 2001, he became the chief justice in the organisation's Sharia courts and an advisor to Mullah Omar, the Taliban's founder.
He is reported to have remained in Afghanistan throughout the group's period out of power and settled many disputes in the group with fatwas, until, after the killing of the group's second leader Mullah Mansour by a US drone strike in 2016, he was appointed leader, but he may also have been active in Pakistan.
Among the last times he was heard from was in May, at Eid al Fitr, when he spoke through a Taliban spokesman, according to Pakistan's Tribune newspaper, to urge Afghans to come together for the "redevelopment of our homeland" and promised an "Afghan-inclusive Islamic system", without the risk of rights being violated.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar
Baradar has been a key figure in the negotiations that led up to the deal with the Trump administration that prompted the US pullout, paving the way for the Taliban advance.
Seen meeting officials in Doha, China and Moscow, the Taliban's deputy commander of the faithful and apparent political leader was only able to do so because he was freed from prison in Pakistan in 2018 - shortly after Mr Trump's Afghanistan envoy Zalmay Khalilzad visited Islamabad - having been in jail since 2010.
His role as negotiator is expected to continue as the Taliban says it seeks an "inclusive, Islamic" government, but many remain sceptical, considering his past.
One of the co-founders of the movement, Baradar is the only surviving Taliban leader to have been personally appointed deputy by Mullah Omar, giving him near-legendary status among the faithful.
On Tuesday, he landed in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban movement, ending 20 years of exile, having previously fled into neighbouring Pakistan after the US-led invasion in 2001.
During the group's 1996-2001 rule, he did not have an official government role but fought alongside Omar as he led the Taliban to seize power in 1996 and during the insurgency in later years.
source http://www.nairaland.com/6710775/whos-talibans-inner-circle-leaders
