Gulbuddin Hekmatyar

Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar arrived in Kabul on Aug. 21 for talks on establishing a new "inclusive" government in Afghanistan, a senior official said.

class='cf'>

Other senior Taliban leaders seen in the capital in recent days include Khalil Haqqani - one of America's most wanted terrorists with a $5 million bounty on his head.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Feb. 18 offered an olive branch to the Taliban, shortly after winning a second term in office.

An evidently confident Ghani embraced his supporters at the highly guarded Arg palace in the capital Kabul after the long-awaited results of last September's election were announced.

A decision to freeze the assets of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the head of an Afghan Islamist organization, has been lifted in Turkey, following lifting sanctions against him by the United Nations.

The decision was published in the Official Gazette on April 30.

Afghanistan on Sept. 22 signed a peace agreement with notorious warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, paving the way for him to make a political comeback despite a history of war crimes and after years in hiding.

Hezb-e-Islami, the Afghan Islamist organization headed by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, announced its support for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), International Business Times has reported.