Since his appointment in September 2018, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad has traveled to various countries in the region and Europe where he has stressed the need for ending the conflict in Afghanistan through a political settlement.

During this period, the Taliban also came up with some changes in their tone and expressed willingness that the group was ready to seal a peace deal with the United States aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan.

One of the much-debated topic has been the influence of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Taliban’s number two and head of the Qatar office of the group. Analysts familiar with Taliban say Baradar is ranked as the most influential figure among the Taliban leadership.

There is less information about Mullah Baradar’s personal and public life. He spent nine years in a Pakistani jail. He is sometimes branded as top thinker and a respected war veteran who is expected to take the peace process with the US into a final conclusion.

According to Taliban’s Al Emarah website, Baradar is originally a native of Deh Rahwod district of southern Uruzgan province while some others say that Baradar belongs to Popalzai tribe of Kandahar province.

After completing his religious studies, the 50-year-old Baradar joined the Afghan Jihadi groups who were fighting against the Soviet forces in the southern Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces alongside Taliban’s founding leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. 

There are reports that Baradar advanced to the rank of deputy defense minister before the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001. He also served as deputy to Omar and there are rumors about some sort of family ties between the two.

“Currently, Mullah Baradar is the most powerful personality among the Taliban. He is the most powerful figure after Mullah Mohammad Omar,” said Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, Taliban ambassador to Pakistan during their regime in Kabul – 1996 to 2001.

Baradar’s name initially came into public discussion back in 2010 when he was arrested by the Pakistani intelligence during a trip to the Pakistani port city of Karachi. Later on, some photographs gone viral on social media, but with the passage of time, it was confirmed that the man in the photographs was not Baradar.

Now that Baradar has been assigned as head of Taliban’s political office in Qatar, a spokesman to the group has sent a picture of him which is not visible and also the Taliban is not willing to comment on his personality.

“Peace will come if he [Mullah Baradar] is given the time and if he is allowed to work in a wider environment,” said Mawlawi Manzoor Ahmad Hussaini, Taliban’s former military commander in the southwest Afghanistan.

In a statement on Monday evening, Taliban said that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar traveled in a special flight to Doha by invitation of Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The statement added that Doha talks will be led by their chief negotiator Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai and that Mullah Baradar will be asked for instruction during the Doha talks when needed.

Mohammad Umer Daudzai, President Ashraf Ghani’s Special Representative on Regional Affairs for Consensus on Peace, is the only close aide to Ghani who says that he has seen Baradar in Pakistan for once.

“My understanding is that he has intellectual independence and now that he has travelled to Qatar, the expectation is that he uses the same intellectual independence he had,” said Daudzai.

Baradar’s name is now circulating in domestic and international media. It is expected that people will see him through media in coming days which will help them to assess different aspects of his secret life.