Within a few weeks, the Taliban conquered all of Afghanistan.
Four men now rule not only the Taliban, but also the country.
Kabul - The radical Islamic Taliban took power in Afghanistan on Sunday.
They are often seen as a group in public appearances.
According to reports by the AFP news agency, UN security assumes a total of 55,000 to 85,000 Islamists.
They are led by four men, who are now also subject to Afghanistan.
As the
Süddeutsche Zeitung
reports, the farmer's son Mullah Omar was the first spiritual, political and military leader of the Taliban for a long time.
Omar has been the leader of the Islamists since 1996 and is said to have despised everything Western.
In 2013 he is said to have died of an illness.
With his death, the leadership positions of the Taliban also became more confusing.
Taliban leader: four men rule Afghanistan
Hibatullah Achundsada was a close confidante of Omar and is the top head of the group.
He was previously a Sharia judge and preacher for the Taliban.
Achundsada is assigned the task of reuniting the fragmented militia after Omar's death.
According to reports by the AFP, his appointment as top Taliban leader should be seen primarily as a sign of an ideological leader and less as a military commander.
Like his predecessor, Achundsada has a close relationship with Al Qaeda.
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Haibatullah Achundsada is one of the leaders of the Islamist Taliban.
(Archive image)
© Afghan Islamic Press / dpa
Achundsada shares his power with three deputies. Taliban founder Mullah Omar's son Mullah Jakub has been head of the Taliban's influential military commission since 2020. He controls the network of militia commanders and is responsible for the military together with Sirajuddin Haqqani. Haqqani is an Afghan warlord and leader of the Hakkani network within the militia, which is known for using suicide bombers. The Hakkani network is classified by the US as a terrorist organization and is responsible for some of the largest attacks in Kabul.
The fourth in the league is Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
He represents the political face of the Taliban and is the only one of the leaders to appear in public.
As the AFP reports, he is said to have fought together with Mullah Omar as early as the late 1970s.
In Qatar he takes over the political office of the Taliban, for which he signed the Doha Agreement with ex-President Donald Trump in 2020.
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Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is the co-founder and the political face of the Taliban.
(Archive image)
© Karim Jaafar / AFP
Taliban militia is developing modern structures
Several bodies are under the leadership quartet, including the so-called "Quetta Shura", which acts as the Taliban's government in exile in the western Pakistani city of Quetta.
In addition, the Taliban have a military council made up of powerful field commanders and a political center.
These “politicians” were also involved in the negotiations with Donald Trump in 2020.
According to information from the
Süddeutsche Zeitung
, the Taliban have
also introduced political structures
over the past thirty years
.
Parallel to the military-political power bloc, there is a shadow cabinet in which areas such as economy, justice, health or religious matters are dealt with in preliminary forms by ministries.