Who are the Taliban leaders in Afghanistan?

The first measures of the Taliban in Afghanistan 1:17

(CNN Spanish) -

The rapid advance of the Taliban in Afghanistan, who in a few days captured the country's main cities one by one until finally taking most of Kabul, the capital, on Sunday, surprised a large part of the community international and even the president of the United States, Joe Biden.

But who exactly are the leaders of this Taliban movement that returns to power after being overthrown in 2001?

• Everything you need to know about Afghanistan, the "tomb of empires"

Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, the leader

On May 25, 2016, the Taliban appointed their new leader, Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, after his predecessor, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, was killed in an airstrike in Pakistan.

Akhundzada thus became the third supreme leader of the Taliban, after Mansour and Mohammed Omar, the group's founder who died of illness in 2013.

Clergyman Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, leader of the Taliban since 2016.

Close to Mansour and Omar, Akhundzada is a respected clergyman within the organization who belongs to the generation of the movement's founders.

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Although he was involved in the mujahideen resistance against the Soviet Union in the 1980s, his role is believed to be non-military, Mohammad Akbar Agha, a founding member of the Taliban, told CNN.

Following the first Taliban seizure of power in 1996, he devoted himself to judicial work in the regime and became the group's chief judicial officer after its overthrow in 2001.

After the death of Omar and the rise of Mansour, he became the deputy leader of the latter.

Akhundzada is about 52 years old, according to the Taliban, and comes from Kandahar province, one of the Taliban strongholds, in southern Afghanistan.

• Who are the Taliban and how did they take control of Afghanistan so quickly?

Abdul Ghani Baradar, Co-Founder and Chief Negotiator

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, co-founder of the Taliban alongside Omar, the group's deputy leader and main negotiator in Doha, returned to Afghanistan this week, a Taliban source familiar with his movements told CNN.

"Mullah Baradar, along with several high-ranking Taliban officials, left Doha for the Afghan province of Kandahar," the source said, without giving further details.

The message of the Taliban leader after the capture of Kabul 0:52

Mullah Baradar, who heads the Taliban's political bureau, has not set foot in Afghanistan in 20 years.

Pakistani security forces captured Baradar in 2010 in Pakistan, then released him in 2013 when the United States stepped up its efforts to get out of Afghanistan.

President Donald Trump and Baradar, who was the Taliban's top negotiator in Doha, spoke on the phone last year, after the United States and the Taliban signed a landmark deal in Qatar in March 2020. Trump called it a good one. conversation.

"The relationship I have with the mullahs is very good. They want to stop the violence," Trump said.

Baradar also met with the Chinese Foreign Minister in Tianjin China in July.

Taliban patrol the streets of Kabul.

(Credit: HOSHANG HASHIMI / AFP via Getty Images)

The deputy leaders

Akhundzada's rise in 2016 also meant the promotion of two other deputy leaders, representing the younger generations within the Taliban, according to analyst Thomas Ruttig of Afghanistan Analysts' Network.

They are Mawlawi Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the powerful Haqqani terrorist network - highly autonomous but loyal to the Taliban - and Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob, son of the late Mohammed Omar.

Haqqani leads a family clan with a presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the United States has offered $ 10,000,000 for his capture.

While Yaqubb is seen as a figure that provides legitimacy due to his kinship with the founder of the group, and in May 2020 he was appointed head of the Taliban's Military Commission, according to the UN.

With information from Vasco Cotovio, Masoud Popalzai, Euan McKirdy, Tim Lister, Tim Hume, Nick Paton Walsh, Peter Bergen, Jason Hanna, Paul Cruickshank, Nic Robertson and Ashley Fantz

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