Talks between the Taliban and US officials are taking place today in the Qatari capital of Doha. Mullah Abdul Ghani Barader heads the movement's negotiators, one of the movement's founding leaders.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Pradar was one of the four founders of the Taliban movement in 1994. He was described as the second most important leader of the movement after Mullah Omar, and was closely linked to Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda.
Mullah Brader was born in 1968 in the village of Whitmak, Dehraod province, in the Afghan province of Uruzgan. The information available to Interpol indicates that he is from the Durani tribe, the same tribe as former President Hamid Karzai.
After the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the overthrow of the Taliban government, Mullah Baradar became the central figure of the movement and its operations commander.
Brader continued to lead the movement until he was arrested in February 2010 in the Pakistani city of Karachi after a joint military operation between US and Pakistani forces.
The name of Mullah Barader was on top of the list of prisoners whom the movement had demanded to be released, in successive negotiations with US officials and the Afghan government, until he was released in October 2018 after Qatari-mediated negotiations.
Brader has been in charge of the movement's political bureau in Qatar since January, but has been living in Pakistan so far.
Read also: What awaits Mullah Baradar after his release?
A tendency not to appear
Mullah Pradar has not issued any public statements since his release, knowing the tendency to limit public statements, even before his arrest in 2010.
One of the most prominent times when Mullah Pradar addressed the world was in July 2009, in e-mail correspondence with Newsweek.
He said in those correspondence that the Taliban want to inflict the greatest damage to US forces in Afghanistan. He pledged to continue jihad until "the enemy leaves our land."
Asked by the magazine about the peace negotiations, he said that the basic condition is "the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan."
Afghan officials hope that Mr Prader's influence will speed up the peace process, as Taliban sources have agreed.
Brader is known to be among the leaders who tend to negotiate with the United States and the Afghan government.
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai was reportedly in contact with Brader a few months before his arrest. And that his capture was a disappointment to possible negotiations between the movement and the Afghan government at the time.
The negotiations were led by Ahmed Wali Karzai, brother of the former president, who was assassinated in July 2011.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Pradar was one of the four founders of the Taliban movement in 1994. He was described as the second most important leader of the movement after Mullah Omar, and was closely linked to Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda.
Mullah Brader was born in 1968 in the village of Whitmak, Dehraod province, in the Afghan province of Uruzgan. The information available to Interpol indicates that he is from the Durani tribe, the same tribe as former President Hamid Karzai.
After the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the overthrow of the Taliban government, Mullah Baradar became the central figure of the movement and its operations commander.
Brader continued to lead the movement until he was arrested in February 2010 in the Pakistani city of Karachi after a joint military operation between US and Pakistani forces.
The name of Mullah Barader was on top of the list of prisoners whom the movement had demanded to be released, in successive negotiations with US officials and the Afghan government, until he was released in October 2018 after Qatari-mediated negotiations.
Brader has been in charge of the movement's political bureau in Qatar since January, but has been living in Pakistan so far.
Read also: What awaits Mullah Baradar after his release?
A tendency not to appear
Mullah Pradar has not issued any public statements since his release, knowing the tendency to limit public statements, even before his arrest in 2010.
One of the most prominent times when Mullah Pradar addressed the world was in July 2009, in e-mail correspondence with Newsweek.
He said in those correspondence that the Taliban want to inflict the greatest damage to US forces in Afghanistan. He pledged to continue jihad until "the enemy leaves our land."
Asked by the magazine about the peace negotiations, he said that the basic condition is "the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan."
Afghan officials hope that Mr Prader's influence will speed up the peace process, as Taliban sources have agreed.
Brader is known to be among the leaders who tend to negotiate with the United States and the Afghan government.
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai was reportedly in contact with Brader a few months before his arrest. And that his capture was a disappointment to possible negotiations between the movement and the Afghan government at the time.
The negotiations were led by Ahmed Wali Karzai, brother of the former president, who was assassinated in July 2011.