Mullah Baradar Strong Candidate for New Afghan President

INTERNATIONAL    | AFGHANISTAN    -  The founder of the Taliban and a strong candidate for the new Afghan President, Mullah Baradar, was one of four people who founded the Taliban movement in Afghanistan in 1994.

Baradar is one of the Taliban's most trusted commanders, and is better known as the head of politics and the most popular within the Taliban. 
As leader of the political affairs of the Taliban group, Baradar also previously represented part of the negotiating team with the United States in Doha, Qatar.

Baradar was born in 1968 in Weetmak village in Dehrawood district, Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan. He is also known to be part of the Popalzai Branch of the Durrani Tribe, as is former Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Like most Afghans, Baradar's life was changed forever due to the invasion of the Soviet Union in the late 1970s.

This period is believed to be one of the times that formed his rebellious nature. In the 1980s with the Afghan Mujahideen, he fought against the Soviets. His meeting with the one-eyed cleric Mullah Omar is also believed to have occurred when the two were struggling side by side during this period.
After the Soviets were expelled in 1992 Afghanistan fell into a civil war between rival warlords. Amid the chaos and corruption of the civil war, Baradar founded a madrasa in Kandahar with Omar.

They later founded the Taliban movement in the early 1990s. Mullah Baradar developed roles as a military strategist and commando. A key figure for the Taliban, he is believed to have led the insurgency and managed day-to-day funding. The Taliban came to power in Afghanistan in 1996.

Power came after series of astonishing conquests over a number of provincial capitals in Afghanistan. Like other Taliban leaders, Baradar has been the target of key UN Security Council sanctions that include asset freezes, travel bans and an arms embargo. This took place after the Taliban collapsed in 2001.

Baradar is believed to be one of a small group of insurgents approaching Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai. His letter to Karzai at the time reportedly outlined a potential deal that would see the militants recognize the new government. During his 20 years of exile, Baradar had a reputation as a strong military leader and a smooth political operator.

Western diplomats view him as the person most resistant to political control and most agreeable to a political contract with Kabul. Prior to his arrest in 2010, Baradar made several public statements. One of those statements was made in July 2009, when he was involved in an email exchange with the United States' Newsweek magazine.