Haibatullah Akhundzada
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A brief biography
As in 2021
August 17, 2021: The Times of India
In Arabic, “talib” means student or seeker of knowledge. Today, as the world watches the Taliban take control of Afghanistan by force (or the threat of force), nobody thinks of them as students of anything. They seem to have mastered the art of snatching power during times of crisis.
Stories are coming in about Taliban functionaries shutting down schools and universities, and sending women home from offices. Many are afraid they will be killed for their aid to the US forces. At the heart of this lies the Taliban’s conviction that the way to govern is through a strict interpretation of Islamic law or sharia. And this is why the religious head of the Taliban is an important figure; even if he is not nominally the president, judging by the Taliban’s past record, the religious head is the man calling the shots.
That man is Haibatullah Akhundzada, head of the Taliban — and of the group’s ulema or religious council. The two previous heads of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammed Omar and Mullah Mansour Akhtar, were accustomed to consulting Akhundzada on matters related to religious orders or fatwa. As chief justice of the Sharia courts from 2016 (although according to some reports he was the shadow chief justice, and others claim he held this post in the early 2000s), and as member of the Department of the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in 1996, Akhundzada is not an unknown figure in the corridors of power in Kabul. But he maintained a low profile throughout his career. All that has been heard of him over the years are occasional messages to mark specific festivals.
So, who is Haibatullah Akhundzada? We’ve pieced together the various snippets of information about the Taliban’s interpreter of Islamic law — and one of the earliest members of the militant group.
Early days
Akhundzada was born in 1959 in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province in what was then the Kingdom of Afghanistan. Panjwayi is generally considered the spiritual home of the Taliban, and is located barely 40km away from Kandahar city.
Akhundzada was the son of the imam of the village mosque. The family, which belonged to the Noorzai tribe, lived on the charity of the community, as they did not own any land or cattle.
He grew up in a religious household, and unlike most of the Taliban leadership, did not move to Pakistan to study or, after 2001, to hide.
Some reports say that Akhundzada received his religious training from his father, and his later education at a seminary in Quetta, where the family moved after the Soviet invasion of 1979. Again, this is conjecture, as some Taliban members have been quoted as saying Akhundzada has never been outside Afghanistan. However, it seems clear that Akhundzada has close ties with the Taliban council in Quetta.
Around the early 1980s, Akhundzada began to actively participate in the mujahideen resistance against the Soviets. Some of the mujahideen fighters formed the core of the Taliban — and Akhundzada was one of the earliest members of the militant group.
The Taliban years As part of the militant group that upheld strict Islamic values and fought against all foreign control of Afghanistan, Akhundzada seemed to have found his niche. He was responsible for many of the fatwas that Taliban members used to justify acts of terrorism.
By all accounts, Akhundzada has always been seen as the Taliban’s religious face, and not as the political or militant face that the world knows. In 1996, when the Taliban captured Kabul and set up an Islamic government, Akhundzada was appointed as a member of the Department of the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Some reports say that he was also appointed chief justice of the sharia court at this time. He later moved to Kandahar, where he was an instructor at the city’s large madrassa.
When the US bombings of Afghanistan began in 2001, Akhundzada was one of the few leaders of the Taliban to stay in the country — or so some Taliban members claim. Many of the others, including Mullah Omar the then leader of the group, sought refuge in neighbouring Pakistan.
Very little is known about Akhundzada’s activities since 2001. Reports quote his students who say he taught and preached at a mosque somewhere in Pakistan, but there are other reports that claim Akhundzada did not leave Afghanistan. It’s only in 2016 that he came back into the public eye — as the third Supreme Commander of the Taliban, and as “defender of the faithful”.
For a group that came into existence to fight the Soviets, the Taliban seems to have adopted the legendary Soviet passion for secrecy. Its first leader, Mullah Omar, died in 2012 or 2013, and the group did not announce this till 2015. The new Taliban leader was announced only then. Mansour Akhtar, who was anointed Supreme Commander, held that position for barely a year before he was killed in a US drone attack. Akhundzada, Akhtar’s deputy, was named Supreme Commander of the Taliban in 2016.
Unlike Mullah Omar, who seized power in 1996, it looks like Akhundzada will play a backroom role. Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of the founders of the Taliban, has taken on the role of interim president and has been doing much of the negotiation and political maneuvering before the Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15. Mohammad Yaqoob, son of Mullah Omar, oversees the group's military operations. Analysts anticipate that both Yaqoob and Baradar will consult Akhundzada on matters related to religious governance, while they will handle military and political strategy.
