Taliban veteran takes centre stage in efforts to form new Afghan government

Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, arrives with other members of the Taliban delegation for an international peace conference in Moscow, Russia (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)

The Taliban’s top political leader, who made a triumphal return to Afghanistan this week, battled the US and its allies for decades but then signed a landmark peace agreement with the Trump administration.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is now expected to play a key role in negotiations between the Taliban and officials from the Afghan government that the militant group deposed in its blitz across the country.