Top Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar could be named the new head of the government in Afghanistan, yet to be formally announced by the Taliban.
As per reports, Mullah Baradar has the support of Qatar, which has been helping the Taliban and Afghan govt negotiate over several rounds of talks in Doha, where the Taliban has a political office.
So, who is Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar?
Born in 1968, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was raised in Kandahar — the birthplace of the Taliban movement.
Like most Afghans, Baradar's life was forever altered by the Soviet invasion of the country in the late 1970s, transforming him into an insurgent. He was believed to have fought side-by-side with the one-eyed cleric Mullah Omar.
The two of them eventually went on to start the Taliban movement in the early 1990s, amid the chaos and corruption of the civil war that erupted after the Soviet withdrawal.
With the Taliban, Mullah Baradar rose to the ranks of a military strategist and commander.
As a key Taliban leader, he was responsible for the day-to-day command of their operations against the US forces and also accessed funds from across the globe.
Following the Taliban's collapse in 2001, Baradar is believed to have been among a small group of insurgents who approached interim leader Hamid Karzai with a letter outlining a potential deal that would have seen the militants recognise the new administration.
Arrested in Pakistan in 2010, Baradar was kept in custody for about eight years.
Pressure from the United States led to him being freed in 2018, following which he relocated to Qatar.
This is where he was appointed head of the Taliban's political office and oversaw the signing of the withdrawal agreement with the Americans.