The Taliban’s supreme chief Hibatullah Akhundzada – who has by no means made a public look and whose whereabouts have largely remained unknown – is in Afghanistan, the group confirmed on Sunday.
“He’s current in Kandahar. He has been dwelling there from the very starting,” mentioned Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
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“He’ll quickly seem in public,” added deputy spokesman Bilal Karimi.
The so-called commander of the trustworthy, Akhundzada has shepherded the Taliban as its chief since 2016 when snatched from relative obscurity to supervise a motion in disaster.
Little continues to be recognized about Akhundzada’s day-to-day function, together with his public profile largely restricted to the discharge of annual messages throughout Islamic holidays.
He has but to subject any form of assertion because the Taliban swept to energy and took management of Afghanistan in mid-August.
The Taliban have a protracted historical past of maintaining their high chief within the shadows.
The group’s enigmatic founder Mullah Mohammad Omar was infamous for his hermit methods and infrequently travelled to Kabul when the group was in energy within the Nineties.
As a substitute, Omar stayed largely out of sight in his compound in Kandahar, reluctant even to fulfill visiting delegations.
Kandahar was the birthplace of the militant motion and the epicenter of the Taliban’s iron-fisted Islamist authorities within the Nineties.
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