 | This article has no lead section .(November 2024) |
| Part of the Politics series |
| Elections |
|---|
 |
 Politicsportal |
| | This article has no lead section .(November 2024) |
| Part of the Politics series |
| Elections |
|---|
| |
| Politicsportal |
Mullah Muhammad Omar was an Afghan militant leader and cleric who was the founder of the Taliban, which he founded in 1994. 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 is a militant leader and, since 4 October 2021, the acting third deputy prime minister for political affairs of Afghanistan in the internationally unrecognized Taliban regime. He previously was the acting prime minister of Afghanistan from 16 April 2001 to 13 November 2001.
Sirajuddin Haqqani is an Afghan warlord and Specially Designated Global Terrorist who is the first deputy leader of Afghanistan and the acting interior minister in the internationally unrecognized post-2021 Taliban regime. He has been a deputy leader of the Taliban since 2015, and was additionally appointed to his ministerial role after the 2021 withdrawal of foreign troops. 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 a Taliban militant commander and the acting Deputy Minister of Defense of the internationally unrecognized Taliban regime currently ruling Afghanistan. He was also the acting Defense Minister of the Taliban, 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 Taliban, which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is an Afghan militant movement, that governs Afghanistan, with an ideology comprising elements of Pashtun nationalism and the Deobandi movement of Islamic fundamentalism.
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 politician and religious leader who is the acting first deputy prime minister, alongside Abdul Salam Hanafi, of the Taliban led government 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, was a Taliban splinter group and faction in the War in Afghanistan. It was 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 an Afghan militant leader who is the head of the Taliban splinter group Fidai Mahaz in Afghanistan.
Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, also spelled Haibatullah Akhunzada, is an Afghan cleric who in 2021, 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.
Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid is an Afghan militant commander and cleric who is the second deputy leader of Afghanistan and the acting defense minister in the internationally unrecognized Taliban regime since 2021. 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.
Mullah Abdul Latif Mansour is a politician in Afghanistan. He is currently serving as the acting Minister of Energy and Water, a position he held since 7 September 2021. He is considered a senior leader of the Taliban religious organization.
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 the acting prime minister of Afghanistan in the internationally unrecognized Taliban regime 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
