JUST IN: The Taliban's co-founder and de facto leader Mullah Baradar returned to the country Tuesday, leading a Taliban delegation that arrived in Kandahar and taking his first step onto Afghan soil in decades, Taliban spokesperson says.
The Taliban's co-founder and de facto leader Mullah Baradar returned to the country Tuesday, leading a Taliban delegation that arrived in Kandahar and taking his first step onto Afghan soil in decades, according to the Taliban spokesperson.
Baradar led the Taliban negotiating team in talks with the Trump administration, securing a U.S. military withdrawal and the release of thousands of Taliban prisoners -- longtime goals of the group. He remains sanctioned by the U.S. and United Nations as a terrorist, although he was granted a waiver after being released from a Pakistani prison to travel to Doha, Qatar, and participate in negotiations with the U.S.
"This afternoon, a high-level delegation from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan headed by Mullah Baradar Akhund left Qatar and arrived in our beloved country this afternoon and landed at Kandahar Airport," a spokesperson for the Taliban said on Twitter, translated from Arabic. Seizing control of the country after the Afghanistan president fled, the Taliban has now claimed the formation of the"Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan."
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