Taliban official Habibullah Badr has told the BBC for the first time about his role during the war, saying he was responsible for Taliban suicide operations in Kabul.
Badr said his previous activities had given him detailed knowledge of Kabul’s roads and streets and that some operations were planned over long periods.
He declined to provide details about specific attacks, saying that discussing the past could upset people and “reopen old wounds.”
Thousands of people, including civilians, were killed or wounded in Taliban suicide attacks during Afghanistan’s two-decade war.
Asked about civilian casualties, Badr said the Taliban’s targets were US military convoys and bases and that people had been told to stay away from those areas.
He declined to directly answer questions about attacks carried out in civilian areas.
After the Taliban returned to power, Badr was appointed deputy head of the group’s prison administration. At one of the prisons under the administration, inmates were held at a time when Badr himself had been imprisoned there under the previous government and was awaiting execution.
Badr’s comments shed further light on the military backgrounds of some Taliban officials now holding senior positions and their roles during the group’s insurgency.
