By: Ahmed Khan
In a dramatic move, the Afghan Taliban replaced the head of their negotiation team and has appointed Sheikh Abdul Hakeem (a close aid of the supreme leader). Sheikh Haibatullah Akhunzada for the long-awaited peace talks with the Afghan government. Sheikh Hakeem landed in Doha a few days ago and replaced an articulate Taliban leader Sher Muhammad Abbas Stankzai. Also, the supreme leader has changed Sohail Shaheen (spokesman) of Afghan Taliban Qatar based political Head Quarter with Naeem Wardak.
· It was only a week ago when the Taliban had formally announced the team for Intra Afghan dialogue. Taliban sources have also told a newspaper correspondent that the supreme leader had personally chosen the members of the negotiation team and has given them a free hand to discuss the issues and can even declare a ceasefire if they felt it necessary for the success of the peace talks.
Now let's discuss a brief profile of Sheikh Abdul Hakeem. He is a hardliner leader and had served as a shadow chief justice during the Taliban regime. He had also served as the head of “Ulema Shura”. He is stated to be very close to the supreme leader Sheikh Haibatullah Akhunzada. According to some sources, Sheikh Akhunzada respects Sheikh Hakeem a lot, and all the decisions made by Hakeem were always backed by Akhunzada. It is also reported that Sheikh Hakeem is one of the few Taliban leaders whom Akhunzada pays extra regards and even “kisses his hands” as a sign of respect.
I think now we should also discuss the other members of the negotiating team as they all will be the critical thinkers and their skills and decisions will be crucial for bringing stability to the war-torn country.
One of the main and interesting thing about the negotiating team is that 65 percent of members are chosen from the Taliban’s powerful decision-making body “Rehbari Shura “. A senior Taliban leader has stated that they can join the intra Afghan dialogue any time but he also added that the supreme leader has reservations about the team announced by the Afghan government. The main question arises here is that why Akhunzada (supreme leader) changed the chief of the peace talks committee? The answer is very simple as Sheikh Hakeem unlike the former head has a fierce personality and is a hardliner leader who has the capability to turn the things in his favor if anything goes against them, moreover his appointment can also be seen by another lens, that Sheikh Hakeem is very close to Mullah Haibatullah Akhunzada and by doing this the supreme leader has represented himself in the negotiating team as Akhunzada is very strict in regard of facing camera and it is reported that Akhunzada has faced camera only 3 or 4 times in his entire life.
In the end, we all should hope for the best and the neighboring countries should also play their role in making the peace talks successful so that peace should be established in Afghanistan which has seen nothing but fighting and destruction for the last 40 years
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