By Abubakar Siddique September 7, 2021 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty The Afghan Taliban has named a reclusive, hard-line Sunni cleric as its supreme leader in a still-unrecognized governing structure weeks after a dramatic takeover in which the militants seized most of Afghanistan even before the final withdrawal of U.S. and allied forces. Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, 55,
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi September 7, 2021 The Taliban has named its reclusive leader Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada as a supreme leader and a founding leader, Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, to lead a new Afghan regime as the radical fundamentalist group seeks to establish its rule after the UN-backed government collapsed in mid-August. The announcement by Taliban
Abdul Sayed VOA News September 5, 2021 After two decades of near-constant warfare and destruction, the Taliban now face the need to figure out how to govern the underdeveloped and impoverished nation they have just recaptured. Some insight into how that may progress can be gleaned from a closer look at the group’s leadership and
Tahir Khan Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News August 29, 2021 KABUL/ISLAMABAD – A senior Taliban leader confirmed to VOA on condition of anonymity that the group is in the final stages of announcing a new Cabinet that was expected to include all members of its current Rahbari Shura, or leadership council. Taliban supreme commander Hibatullah Akhundzada
Ron Synovitz Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty August 25, 2021 As the Taliban transforms its military chain of command into a governing structure for Afghanistan, alliances and tribal configurations that kept two rival Taliban factions together in recent years are now being tested. “Conquering a country is always the easy part. Ruling it, in Afghanistan’s case,
VOA News August 19, 2021 Taliban fighters captured major areas in quick succession on their way to seizing Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, Sunday, 20 years after U.S.-led forces knocked the group from power. Here are some of its key leaders. Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada He is the Taliban’s supreme leader, a position he took following the death
By Ron Synovitz RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi August 6, 2021 With the Taliban in control of more than half of all districts in Afghanistan, promises made by Taliban political negotiators in Doha appear to be falling by the wayside. The movement’s so-called Political Affairs Commission in Doha had vowed in a February 2020 peace deal with the
Ariana: National Security Advisor (NSA) Hamdullah Mohib said on Saturday that the Taiban’s supreme leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada has not been seen in the last year – which has again raised questions about whether he is dead or alive. Mohib said in a press conference in Kabul Saturday that intelligence findings indicate that Taliban members
Tolo News: The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said Saturday that at least 40 people were killed and wounded in separate Taliban attacks in nearly 10 provinces despite a previous commitment by the group to halt fighting during the three days of Eid ceasefire. “Mullah Hibatullah (Taliban’s supreme leader) has no authority on all factions of
Ayaz Gul VOA News May 9, 2021 ISLAMABAD – The leader of Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgency Sunday praised the ongoing withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from the country, as officials in Kabul raised the death toll to more than 60 from the previous day’s multiple blasts outside a girls’ school in the capital. “We consider