Asked about the rumors, Baradar said, “No, that’s not true. Praise be to God, I’m fit and well. And as for the media claiming we have internal disagreements, that’s not true either.
“Praise be to God, we have much goodness and mercy among us, such that they do not even exist in a family. In addition, for many years we have suffered and given sacrifices to end the occupation. This is neither for power nor for position “.
Baradar said he had been on a trip outside Kabul with no access to the media to reject the claim. “Therefore, we assure the Afghan nation and all the older and young mujahideen that they do not care at all or that there is anything to worry about,” he added.
Baradar was also asked why he did not meet with Qatar’s foreign minister when he visited Kabul on Sunday. Baradar was not seen accompanying Afghanistan’s acting prime minister, Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, when he met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.
“We were not aware that the Foreign Minister was from Qatar. If we had known, we would have postponed our trip. And we were on a trip, so the meeting did not take place,” Baradar said.
“It was not possible for us to return from the trip to meet the Foreign Minister. If we had received the news previously, we would probably have joined other friends at the meeting.”
Taliban officials said Baradar had gone to Kandahar, where he is said to have the supreme leader of the Haibatullah Akhundzada group.
Baradar is the head of the Taliban’s political office and led Doha negotiations with the former government and the United States. Some expected him to be appointed prime minister, but after lengthy negotiations over the form of the new government, Baradar was appointed deputy prime minister.
CNN’s Tim Lister contributed to this report.