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Taliban names cofounder as head of political office in Qatar
[Aljazeera] The Afghan Taliban has named one of its co-founders as the leader of its political office in Qatar, as part of a major reshuffle that comes as talks with the United States to end the 17-year war appear to gain momentum.The appointment of Abdul Ghani Baradar on Thursday was announced as a meeting in Doha between the group's representatives and US special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad that was originally scheduled to last for two days entered its fourth day. In a statement, the Taliban said the reshuffle in their team, which included new shadow governors for several Afghan provinces, was "taken to strengthen and properly handle the ongoing negotiations process with the United States". It was not clear whether the talks in the Qatari capital were to continue on Friday, or how soon Baradar could join them. "Baradar will soon fly to Qatar. He has been given the new position because the US wanted senior Taliban leadership to participate in peace talks," a senior Taliban official said. Release from prison Baradar is one of four men who founded the Taliban movement in Afghanistan in 1994. He served in several key positions when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001. Posted by: Besoeker 2019-01-25 |
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