Amid death rumours, Taliban co-founder Mullah Ghani Baradar releases audio, says “I am alive”

Kabul: Barely a week after being named as one of the Deputy Prime Ministers of the caretaker Taliban government, rumours surfaced of the death of Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in a fierce clash over power with Afghan Taliban leader Anas Haqqani. However, on Monday, Baradar released an audio message saying he was alive and not injured.

Baradar said in a voice message on Monday that rumours of his death or injury were baseless.

In the past two days, there have been reports that Mullah Baradar has been wounded or killed in a Taliban infighting, news sites reported.

Baradar’s audio message was tweeted by Taliban spokesperson Mohammad Naeem on Monday.

A twitter handle of the resistance forces in Panjshir tweeted on Sunday that they have “received credible reports” of Mullah Ghani Baradar’s death and of injury to Anas Haqqani during a clash over power sharing in the Presidential Palace in Kabul.

It said that both of them have been absent from the media since the past few days, and that ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed was also present when the incident occurred.

According to Resistance twitter handles, fierce battles for power “have been raging in recent days” among the Taliban over the formation of the government cabinet and “there are reports of the presence of ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz on this occasion”.

One resistance handle later said that Anas Haqqani has recovered and is “back on the show”, but that Baradar “succumbed to his injuries while being admitted in the Islamabad Army hospital. In this respect, ISI keeps it secret”.

It also claimed that Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada is also dead due to injuries sustained in a murderous clash.

Twitterati have questioned why Baradar was not present when the Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met with the Taliban leadership and the new cabinet members in Kabul on Sunday, and why was only Baradar’s voice message released. (UNI)