Mullah Baradar among Time’s 100 ‘most influential people of 2021’

New York: Mullah Baradar, co-founder of Taliban and deputy Prime Minister of cabinet announced by the group has been named among the world’s 100 most influential people of 2021 by TIME magazine.

The Time profile describes the Taliban co-founder Baradar as a “quiet, secretive man who rarely gives public statements or interviews.”

“Baradar nonetheless represents a more moderate current within the Taliban, the one that will be thrust into the limelight to win Western support and desperately needed financial aid. The question is whether the man who coaxed the Americans out of Afghanistan can sway his own movement”, says Baradar’s profile.

The list also includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawala.

US President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Duke and Duchess of Sussex Prince Harry and Meghan and former US president Donald Trump are also on the list.

Did Mullah Baradar leave Kabul?

A report by BBC claimed that a major row broke out between leaders of the Taliban over the make-up of the group’s new government in Afghanistan last week.

The argument between the group’s co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and a cabinet member happened at the presidential palace

The Taliban sources told the BBC that Baradar had left Kabul and travelled to the city of Kandahar following the row.