The top Taliban leaders have spent years on the run, in hiding, in prison and dodging American drones. They are now coming out of obscurity after a 20-year struggle, but little is known about them or how they intend to rule.
As they take charge of the Afghan government and a country of 38 million people, the Taliban leaders have tried to demonstrate that they are more worldly and tolerant than their predecessors in the 1990s, willing to work with women and encourage people to return to work without fear of reprisal.
But the question remains: did they really reject an extremist ideology that led them through two decades of war, or is this all a ruse designed to gain global approval? What is known about the leaders of the movement provides some clues.
Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, Supreme Leader
He is an Islamic jurist and has been described as a spiritual guide to the movement and has long been a supporter of suicide bombings. His son trained as a suicide bomber and blew himself up at the age of 23 in an attack in Helmand province. That raised Mr Akhundzada’s profile in the movement, said Carter Malkasian, the author of “The American War in Afghanistan.”
When the previous Supreme Leader of the Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, was killed in a US drone strike in 2016, Mr Akhundzada emerged as a compromise candidate. “They needed someone with more consensus, someone better able to keep the different factions together,” said a leading Taliban scholar Antonio Giustozzi.
Known as a pragmatist, Mr Akhundzada rejected the group’s political leaders and allowed the military wing to step up attacks on Afghan cities, Giustozzi said.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, Deputy Leader
The son of a celebrated mujahedeen figure who oversees a sprawling web of fighters and religious schools from a base in Pakistan, Mr Haqqani, 48, has spearheaded many of the Taliban’s recent military efforts.
His Haqqani network, known for its close ties to Pakistani intelligence, has been the most persistent opponent of the US presence in Afghanistan. It was responsible for the hostage-taking of Americans, complex suicide bombings and targeted killings.
Mr Haqqani and his network also have some of the strongest and longest-lasting ties to Al Qaeda, including helping Osama bin Laden escape from his headquarters in Tora Bora after the US invasion in 2001.
His younger brother, Anas Haqqani, has participated in peace negotiations in Doha and was in Kabul on Wednesday to meet with former President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman of the Afghan delegation to peace talks. He was accompanied by the Speaker of the Afghan Parliament.
Abdul Gani Baradar, political deputy
One of the early members of the movement, Mr. Baradar, was the chief deputy of Taliban founder Mullah Muhammad Omar.
Mr. Baradar led the movement’s military operations until his arrest by Pakistan, under pressure from the US, in 2010. Under his leadership, the units were notable for their skillful use of guerrilla tactics against British and American forces.
After three years in a Pakistani prison and several years under house arrest, he was released in 2019, under pressure from the US, to help negotiate the 2020 peace deal with the Trump administration.
In the course of the negotiations, Malkasian said he developed a “warm” relationship with Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy to the negotiations.
Mullah Muhammad Yaqoub, military leader
Mullah Omar’s son, Mr. Yaqoub, has become more important for his work with the Taliban forces, although he does not expect to challenge Mr. Haqqani for second in the hierarchy.
Considered less dogmatic than his father, he overcame a challenge from a rival for the leadership of the Taliban’s military wing.
