Fall of Afghanistan: Taliban spokesman boasts of eluding US raids while living 'under their noses' in Kabul

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid. Photo / Getty Images

The Taliban's spokesman has boasted of how he lived under the noses of US forces in Afghanistan like a "ghost" in the run-up to last month's takeover during a candid newspaper interview.

Speaking to the Pakistani Express Tribune, Zabiullah Mujahid said he had an "uncanny" ability to evade US soldiers, who often tried to convince locals to hand him over.

"They [US and Afghan National Forces] used to think I did not exist," Mujahid told the Express Tribune. "I escaped so many times from their raids and attempts to capture me that they seriously considered that 'Zabiullah' was a made-up figure, not a real man who exists."

Mujahid, who was appointed the Taliban's spokesman in 2007, claimed he was able to move around Afghanistan anonymously as he briefed journalists on the Taliban's operations via emails and phone calls.

"I lived in Kabul for a long time, right under everyone's noses. I roamed the width and breadth of the country," he said.

"I also managed to have first-hand access to the frontline, where the Taliban carried out their actions, and up-to-date information. It was quite puzzling for our adversaries."

The 43-year-old added that US forces "would often pay off locals to obtain some information about my whereabouts", leading to dozens of operations that all failed to track him down.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid. Photo / Getty Images

"I never left or tried to; not even thought about trying to leave Afghanistan," he told the newspaper.

In the same interview, Mujahid said he joined the Taliban at the age of 16 and at one point was imprisoned for a six-month period.

He eventually shifted from fighting to journalism and public relations, having worked at the Taliban's Sarak magazine and a radio station in Paktika where delivered news bulletins in Pashto and Dari.

He said the former Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour and current leader Haibatullah Akhundzada had "applauded my work and my professional approach".

The disclosure came as the United Nations called for world powers to donate $836m to Afghanistan as it warned poverty and hunger were blighting the country after the Taliban takeover and the ensuing end to foreign aid.