
Hibatullah Akhundzada
Afghanistan Supreme Leader
Education
- -
Overview
Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada became the supreme leader of Afghanistan in the internationally unrecognized Taliban regime. He has led the Taliban since 2016, and came to power with its victory over U.S.-backed forces in the 2001–2021 war. A highly reclusive figure, he has almost no digital footprint except for an unverified photograph and several audio recordings of speeches.
Akhundzada is well known for his fatwas on Taliban matters. Unlike many Taliban leaders, he does not have an active militant background himself, although one of his sons was a suicide bomber. He was an Islamic judge of the Sharia courts of the 1996–2001 Taliban government. He was chosen to lead the Taliban’s shadow court system at the start of the Taliban insurgency, and remained in that post until being elected supreme leader of the Taliban in May 2016. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda, backed Akhundzada as the Amir al-Mu'minin, which strengthened Akhundzada's jihadist reputation among the Taliban's allies. In 2019, Akhundzada appointed Abdul Ghani Baradar to lead peace talks with the U.S., which led to the 2020 signing of the Doha Agreement that cleared the way for the full withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan.
Akhundzada led the Taliban to victory against the Afghan government in a 2021 military offensive—while the U.S. withdrawal was still underway—then became Afghanistan’s absolute ruler and imposed a totalitarian Islamist government. His rule has been criticized for sweeping infringements on human rights, including the rights of women and girls to work and education. On his orders, the Taliban administration has prevented most teenage girls from returning to secondary school education.
He joined the Taliban in 1994, and became one of its early members. After they gained control of Farah Province in 1995, he was part of the vice and virtue police there. Later, he was the head of the Taliban's military court in eastern Nangarhar Province and then the deputy head of the Supreme Court. He later moved to Kandahar where he was an instructor at the Jihadi Madrasa, a seminary that Taliban founding leader Mohammed Omar looked after.
Early Life
Akhundzada was born in the village of Sperwan in the Panjwayi District of Kandahar Province, Kingdom of Afghanistan. According to the then-director of the Afghan National Directorate of Security, Akhundzada was born c. 1959. However, he is believed to be in his 70s (as of March 2023). A Pashtun, he belongs to the Nurzai tribe. His first name, Hibatullah, means "gift from God" in Arabic. His father, Muhammad Akhund, was a religious scholar and led prayers at the Malook mosque in Safid Rawan village. Not owning any land or orchards of their own, his family of very modest means depended on what the congregation paid his father in cash or in a portion of their crops. One of Akhundzada's sons was a suicide bomber.
Career
- Afghanistan Supreme Leader -