Formerly Arrested By The CIA, Yesterday Taliban Leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Negotiates With US Password Spy

Pemimpin Taliban Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. (Wikimedia Commons/Afghan government)

JAKARTA - I don't know what was in the thoughts and feelings of one of the Taliban leaders, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar when he had to meet and negotiate with the Director of the United States Intelligence Agency (CIA), William Burns.

Eleven years ago, Baradar was arrested by a spy agency in a joint CIA operation with Pakistani intelligence (ISI) after his position was tracked from a cell phone and arrested in Karachi, Pakistan around the end of January or early February 2010. However, the exact moment of Baradar's arrest is not yet clear.

Citing Gulf News Tuesday, August 24, Abdul Ghani Baradar then served eight years in prison. His fate was different from that of nine other Taliban leaders who were also detained by Pakistan and released on November 23, 2012.

On 25 October 2018, Baradar was released from prison. Since then, his life intersects with the West a lot. He was appointed the Taliban's chief negotiator in peace talks with the United States in Qatar.

The talks resulted in an agreement with the Donald Trump administration on the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. In November 2020, Baradar posed with United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a photo in front of a gold-framed chair.

CIA Director William Burns. (Wikimedia Commons/US Department of State)

A close friend of the Taliban's supreme leader and founder Mullah Mohammed Omar, Baradar is believed to have significant influence over the ranks of the Taliban. He fought Soviet forces during their occupation of Afghanistan and was governor of several provinces in the 1990s when the last Taliban ruled the country.

Monday, August 23 yesterday, Baradar is said to have met and negotiated with CIA Director William Burns, who was sent by President Joe Biden, as quoted by the Daily Mail of The Washington Post.

The discussions, Tuesday's report notes, likely involve an August 31 deadline, for all US military presence out of Afghanistan, including ending the evacuation of US citizens and Afghan allies.

Burns is sent to the Afghan capital as the government continues to grapple with chaos at Kabul airport, struggling to evacuate Americans and those who have helped the United States for the past 20 years.

For information, last week President Joe Biden said he did not rule out the possibility of his troops passing the deadline for withdrawing troops on August 31 or as originally scheduled, to complete the evacuation.

"If there are any Americans left, we will stay until we get them all out", President Biden told ABC News.

Yesterday, the Taliban confirmed the deadline for the withdrawal of US-led foreign troops on August 31, rejecting the extension, but allowing Afghans to fly after that date.

"If the United States or Britain seeks additional time to resume evacuations, the answer is no. There will be consequences", he said, citing Arab News, Monday, August 23.

While telling the BBC, Shaheen said the decision had been made by the Taliban leadership, as was the reaction to such moves.

"Foreign troops have to withdraw by the deadline they have previously announced. Otherwise, it is a clear violation", Shaheen stressed. He did not specify what the consequences would be, only saying it would be decided by the Taliban leadership.