Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the co-founder of Taliban, arrived in Kabul on Saturday for talks with fellow members of the group and other politicians on establishing a new Afghan government. "He will be in Kabul to meet leaders and politicians for an inclusive government set-up," a senior Taliban official said. According too Afghan local media Pajhwok news, the head of the Taliban's political office Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has arrived in Kabul. Earlier, the Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) said formal talks between political leaders and Taliban will begin once Taliban leaders reach Kabul. HIA chief Gulbadin Hekmatyar said recent meeting held between the two sides after Taliban entered Kabul were informal. The Taliban had evinced an interest in setting up an inclusive and broad-based government, TOLO news reported. Abdullah Abdullah and former president Hamid Karzai have been in contact with the Taliban on a future political set up Baradar arrived in Afghanistan earlier this week from Qatar, choosing to touch down in the country's second-biggest city Kandahar — the Taliban's spiritual birthplace. Within hours of his return, the group announced its rule would be "different" this time. Baradar was arrested in Pakistan in 2010. He was kept in custody until pressure from the United States saw him freed in 2018 and relocated to Qatar. He was appointed head of the Taliban's political office in Doha, where he oversaw the signing of the foreign forces' withdrawal agreement with the Americans. The Taliban leader came to Kabul on a day when the Taliban released 340 security personnel in Afghanistan's western Farah province, Farah Police chief Maulvi Mohammed Idrees told media. Earlier of Friday Ahmed Masood, the son of the late Afghan leader Ahmad Shah Masood, declared resistance to the Taliban from his stronghold in Afghanistan's north-eastern Panjshir province. The Panjshir Valley also held out against the Taliban when they ruled Afghanistan in 1996-2001. According to some media reports fighting is under way as local forces recaptured the Charikar area in the Parwan province north of Kabul from the Taliban. Reports also said that Afghan security forces have reoccupied three districts in the last 24 hours as clashes continue in various provinces of Afghanistan. TOLO News reported quoting Defense Ministry, that the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces retook the control of Saighan and Kahmard districts in Bamiyan and Chakhansur district in Nimroz. "In an operation that began this (Friday) morning, districts were retaken in a short time by security forces, and the country's flag was raised back on the districts," Bamiyan governor Tahir Zuhair said. The Ministry of Defense said the operations by Afghan security forces are under way to push back the Taliban attacks on cities and to retake the areas that are under Taliban influence. "Operation by the ANDSF to retake districts that were under the influence of the enemy is under way," Defense Ministry spokesman Rohullah Ahmadzai said. Meanwhile, the Taliban claimed that they have entered the city of Sheberghan, the center of Jawzjan province in the north, but local officials said the attacks of the Taliban were pushed back. Reports suggest that the security situation in the city of Taluqan, the center of Takhar, is concerning. TOLO News further said that 10 civilians were killed and 10 others were injured in an airstrike by government forces in Shohada district in Badakhshan on Thursday, but the government rejected the claim. — Agencies
