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Mullah Baradar's passport reveals Pak support for Taliban

Pakistan has been long accused of covertly providing support to the Taliban militarily, financially and with intelligence in their fight against Afghan defence forces, which Islamabad has repeatedly dismissed as baseless.

Updated on: Sep 10, 2021 10:19 PM IST
By , Hindustan Times, New Delhi
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With the lifetime Pakistani passport and identity card of the Taliban deputy prime minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar surfacing under a fake name, it is now quite evident that the Pakistani ISI is the driving force behind the military occupation of Kabul by the Sunni Pashtun forces. Pakistan had issued Baradar’s national identity card in the name of Muhammad Arif Agha, son of Syed M Nazeer Agha.

Taliban deputy prime minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar's lifetime identity card, with serial number 42201-5292460-5, was issued on July 10, 2014.
Taliban deputy prime minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar's lifetime identity card, with serial number 42201-5292460-5, was issued on July 10, 2014.

The lifetime identity card, with serial number 42201-5292460-5, was issued on July 10, 2014. Baradar’s date of birth has been mentioned as the year 1963. The national identity card was duly signed by the registrar general of Pakistan. The Pakistani passport number of Baradar is GF680121. The issue date of passport and national identity card was the same.

Pakistan has been long accused of covertly providing support to the Taliban militarily, financially and with intelligence in their fight against Afghan defence forces, which Islamabad has repeatedly dismissed as baseless.

According to Kabul watchers, Mullah Baradar, co-founder of the Taliban with Mullah Omar, use to stay in Pakistan’s Quetta and was part of the leadership council, or Shura, of the Islamist force. Mullah Baradar, also known as Muhammad Arif Agha, along with Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, was heading the negotiating team at the Taliban’s political office in Doha, Qatar. The duo was negotiating with another Afghan origin Pashtun and US national Zalmay Khalilzad with the support of the Qatari government.

 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shishir Gupta

Author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (2011, Hachette) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (2014, Hachette). Awarded K Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 by Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) and the 2011 Ben Gurion Prize by Israel.

Get the latest headlines from US news and global updates from Pakistan, Nepal, UK, Bangladesh, Russia and US Iran war Live, get all the latest headlines in one place on Hindustan Times.
Get the latest headlines from US news and global updates from Pakistan, Nepal, UK, Bangladesh, Russia and US Iran war Live, get all the latest headlines in one place on Hindustan Times.
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