Taliban co-founder and de facto leader Abdul Ghani Baradar arrived in Afghanistan on Tuesday for the first time in more than a decade, returning to the group’s birthplace in the southern city of Kandahar just days after his fighters swept to power across the country.
His homecoming signalled a consolidation of Taliban rule amid a near-total surrender of Afghan government forces and the chaotic withdrawal of Western troops and diplomats in recent days. The Taliban on Tuesday announced a general amnesty for government officials and ordered fighters to maintain discipline as an uneasy calm settled over the capital, Kabul.
