In Pics | Key figures in Afghan Taliban's new government

Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar will lead the new government in Afghanistan, sources within the movement have said, as the Islamist militant group works to finalise its leadership team after sweeping to victory in a 20-year war.

In Pics | Key figures in Afghan Taliban's new government

Haibatullah Akhundzada, a low-profile legal scholar, took over after his predecessor, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, was killed in a US drone strike in 2016. Credit: AFP Photo/Afghan Taliban

Akhundzada has been identified by the United Nations as the former chief of the hardline justice system imposed by the Taliban when it ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001. Credit: Reuters photo

Baradar was once a close friend of the Taliban's reclusive original leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, who gave him his nom de guerre

Following the fall of the Taliban government, Baradar served as a senior military commander responsible for attacks on coalition forces, a UN sanctions notice said. Credit: AFP Photo

Baradar was arrested and imprisoned in Pakistan in 2010. After his release in 2018, he headed the Taliban's political office in Doha, becoming one the most prominent figures in peace talks with the United States. Credit: AFP Photo

Stanikzai - Baradar's deputy in Doha - trained as a military cadet in India, graduating in 1982. Credit: AP/PTI Photo

After graduating, Stanikzai fought in the Soviet-Afghan war and served as the Taliban's deputy foreign minister. Fluent in English, Stanikzai helped set up the Doha political office, and has been one of the group's key emissaries to foreign diplomats and media. Credit: AFP Photo

Son of the Taliban's co-founder Mullah Omar, Yaqoob had originally sought to succeed his father in 2015. He stormed out of the council meeting that appointed Mullah Akhtar Mansour as leader, but eventually reconciled and was named deputy to Akhundzada on Mansour's death. Credit: AFP Photo

Still in his early 30s and without the long combat experience of the Taliban's main battlefield commanders, Yaqoob commands the loyalty of a section of the movement in Kandahar because of the prestige of his father's name. Credit: AFP Photo