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 Politicsportal |
| Part of the Politics series |
| Elections |
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| Politicsportal |
The Taliban, which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is an afghan militant movement in Afghanistan with an ideology comprising elements of Pashtun nationalism and the Deobandi current of Islamic fundamentalism. It ruled approximately three-quarters of the country from 1996 to 2001, before being overthrown following the American invasion. It recaptured Kabul on 15 August 2021 following the departure of most coalition forces, after nearly 20 years of insurgency, and currently controls all of the country. Its government is not recognized by any country. The Taliban government has been internationally condemned for restricting human rights in Afghanistan, including the right of women and girls to work and to have an education.
Muhammad Omar was an Afghan militant leader and founder of the Taliban. During the Third Afghan Civil War, the Taliban fought the Northern Alliance and took control of most of the country, establishing the First Islamic Emirate for which Omar began to serve as Supreme Leader in 1996. Shortly after al-Qaeda carried out the September 11 attacks, the Taliban government was toppled by an American invasion of Afghanistan, prompting Omar to go into hiding. He successfully evaded capture by the American-led coalition before dying in 2013 from tuberculosis.
The Taliban insurgency began after the group's fall from power during the 2001 War in Afghanistan. The Taliban forces fought against the Afghan government, led by President Hamid Karzai, and later by President Ashraf Ghani, and against a US-led coalition of forces that has included all members of NATO; the 2021 Taliban offensive resulted in the collapse of the government of Ashraf Ghani. The private sector in Pakistan extends financial aid to the Taliban, contributing to their financial sustenance.
Mohammed Abdul Kabir is a senior member of the Taliban leadership who has served as the acting third deputy prime minister for political affairs of Afghanistan since 4 October 2021. He previously was the acting prime minister of Afghanistan from 16 April 2001 to 13 November 2001.
Sirajuddin Haqqani is an Afghan warlord who is the first deputy leader of Afghanistan and the acting interior minister. He has been a deputy leader of the Taliban since 2015, and was additionally appointed to his ministerial role after the Taliban's victory over Western-backed forces in the 2001–2021 war. He has led the Haqqani network, a semi-autonomous paramilitary arm of the Taliban, since inheriting it from his father in 2018, and has primarily had military responsibilities within the Taliban.
Abdul Qayyum "Zakir", also known by the nom de guerre Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, is the acting Deputy Minister of Defense of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. He previously served as the acting Defense Minister, from 24 August 2021 to 7 September 2021.
The Pakistani Taliban, formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan, is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani border. Formed in 2007 by Baitullah Mehsud, its current leader is Noor Wali Mehsud, who has publicly pledged allegiance to the Afghan Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban share a common ideology with the Afghan Taliban and have assisted them in the 2001–2021 war, but the two groups have separate operation and command structures.
The Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, also translated as the Supreme Council, is an advisory council to the Supreme Leader of Afghanistan. The supreme leader convenes and chairs the council at his sole discretion. He has ultimate authority and may override or circumvent it at any time. It played a key role in directing the Taliban insurgency from Quetta, Pakistan, which led to it being informally referred to as the Quetta Shura at the time.
Abdul Ghani Baradar is an Afghan political and religious leader who is the acting first deputy prime minister, alongside Abdul Salam Hanafi, of Afghanistan. A co-founder of the Taliban along with Mullah Omar, he was Omar's top deputy from 2002 to 2010, and since 2019 he has been the Taliban's fourth-in-command, as the third of Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada's three deputies.
Mohammad Hasan Rahmani, also written Muhammad Hassan Rahmani, was the governor of Kandahar Province for the Taliban until 2001 and then a member of the Taliban's top council, the Rahbari Shura.
Muhammad Rasul was the leader of the High Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, a Taliban dissident group in Afghanistan, until the group's dissolution in 2021. He was a Taliban-appointed governor of Nimruz Province, Afghanistan. Rasul exerted pressure and suppression on Pashtun factions unpopular with the Taliban, and made a considerable fortune controlling cross-border drug-smuggling through Nimruz.
Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was the second supreme leader of the Taliban. Succeeding the founding leader, Mullah Omar, he was the supreme leader from July 2015 to May 2016, when he was killed in a US drone strike in Balochistan, Pakistan.
The Sacrifice Front, more commonly known as Fidai Mahaz, is a Taliban splinter group and faction in the War in Afghanistan. It is led by Mullah Najibullah, also known as Omar Khitab, a former Taliban commander.
Najibullah, often referred to as Mullah Najibullah or Hajji Najibullah, and also known by the pseudonym Omar Khitab, is the leader of the Taliban splinter group Fidai Mahaz in Afghanistan.
The Islamic State – Khorasan Province is a regional branch of the Salafi jihadist group Islamic State (IS) active in South-Central Asia, primarily Afghanistan and Pakistan. ISIS–K seeks to destabilize and replace current governments within historic Khorasan region with the goal of establishing a caliphate across South and Central Asia, governed under a strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law, which they plan to expand beyond the region.
Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, also spelled Haibatullah Akhunzada, is an Afghan Deobandi Islamic scholar, cleric, and jurist who is the supreme leader of Afghanistan. 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.
Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid is an Afghan commander and cleric who is the second deputy leader of Afghanistan and the acting defense minister. He has been a deputy leader of the Taliban since 2016, and was additionally appointed to his ministerial role after the Taliban's victory over Western-backed forces in the 2001–2021 war. He has been the Taliban's military chief since 2020.
The supreme leader of Afghanistan, officially the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and also styled by his religious title Amir al-Mu'minin, is the absolute ruler, head of state, and national religious leader of Afghanistan, as well as the leader of the Taliban. The supreme leader wields unlimited authority and is the ultimate source of all law.
Mohammad Hasan Akhund is an Afghan mullah, politician and Taliban leader who is currently serving as the acting prime minister of Afghanistan since 7 September 2021.
The politics of Afghanistan are based on a totalitarian emirate within the Islamic theocracy in which the Taliban Movement holds a monopoly on power. Dissent is not permitted, and politics are mostly limited to internal Taliban policy debates and power struggles. As the government is provisional, there is no constitution or other basis for the rule of law. The structure is autocratic, with all power concentrated in the hands of the supreme leader and his clerical advisors. According to the V-Dem Democracy indices Afghanistan was as of 2023 the 4th least electoral democratic country in the world.
The shura held outside Quetta unanimously elected Mullah Mansour as the new emir of the Taliban
At the time of his appointment as Taliban chief by the Rahbari Shura (leadership council)
an autocratic political system that eschews democracy
