Six important figures lead the Taliban movement that has been fighting the Western-backed government since 2001.

The Taliban has been fighting the Western-backed Afghan government in Kabul since it was removed from power in 2001.

It originally drew members from so-called “mujahideen” fighters who, with support from the United States, repelled Soviet forces in the 1980s.

The group emerged in 1994 as one of the factions fighting a civil war and went on to control most of the country by 1996, when it imposed its interpretation of Islamic law.

Opponents and Western countries accused it of brutally enforcing its version of Islamic law and suppressing religious minorities.

The Taliban is once again ascending militarily in Afghanistan since foreign troops began to withdraw, seizing most of the country’s territory to control the capitals of 10 of 34 provinces.

Its founder and original leader was Mullah Mohammad Omar, who went into hiding after the Taliban was toppled by US-backed local forces following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US.

So secretive were Omar’s whereabouts that his death, in 2013, was only confirmed two years later by his son.

These are some of the key figures in the movement:

Haibatullah Akhunzada
Known as the “Leader of the Faithful”, the Islamic legal scholar is the Taliban’s supreme leader who holds final authority over the group’s political, religious and military affairs.

The Taliban has been fighting the Western-backed Afghan government in Kabul since it was removed from power in 2001.

It originally drew members from so-called “mujahideen” fighters who, with support from the United States, repelled Soviet forces in the 1980s.

The group emerged in 1994 as one of the factions fighting a civil war and went on to control most of the country by 1996, when it imposed its interpretation of Islamic law.

Opponents and Western countries accused it of brutally enforcing its version of Islamic law and suppressing religious minorities.

The Taliban is once again ascending militarily in Afghanistan since foreign troops began to withdraw, seizing most of the country’s territory to control the capitals of 10 of 34 provinces

Its founder and original leader was Mullah Mohammad Omar, who went into hiding after the Taliban was toppled by US-backed local forces following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US.

So secretive were Omar’s whereabouts that his death, in 2013, was only confirmed two years later by his son.

These are some of the key figures in the movement:

Haibatullah Akhunzada
Known as the “Leader of the Faithful”, the Islamic legal scholar is the Taliban’s supreme leader who holds final authority over the group’s political, religious and military affairs.

Akhunzada took over when his predecessor, Akhtar Mansour, was killed in a US drone attack near the Afghan-Pakistan border in 2016.

For 15 years, until his sudden disappearance in May 2016, Akhunzada taught and preached at a mosque in Kuchlak, a town in southwestern Pakistan, associates and students have told Reuters news agency.

He is believed to be aged about 60 and his whereabouts are unknown.

[img]Haibatullah Akhunzada[/img]

Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob
The son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar, Yaqoob oversees the group’s military operations and local media reports have said he is inside Afghanistan.

He was proposed as the overall leader of the movement during various succession tussles.

But he put forward Akhunzada in 2016 because he felt he lacked battlefield experience and was too young, according to a Taliban commander at the meeting where Mansour’s successor was chosen.

Yaqoob is believed to be in his early 30s.

Sirajuddin Haqqani
The son of prominent mujahideen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, Sirajuddin leads the Haqqani Network, a loosely organised group that oversees the Taliban’s financial and military assets across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

The Haqqanis are believed by some experts to have introduced suicide bombing to Afghanistan and have been blamed for several high-profile attacks in Afghanistan, including a raid on Kabul’s top hotel, an assassination attempt on then-President Hamid Karzai and a suicide attack on the Indian embassy.

Haqqani is believed to be in his late 40s or early 50s. His whereabouts are unknown.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar
One of the co-founders of the Taliban, Baradar now heads the political office of the Taliban and is part of the group’s negotiating team in Doha to try and thrash out a political deal that could pave the way for a ceasefire and more lasting peace in Afghanistan.

The process has failed to make significant headway in recent months.

Baradar, reported to have been one of Mullah Omar’s most trusted commanders, was captured in 2010 by security forces in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi and released in 2018.

Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai
A former deputy minister in the Taliban’s government before its removal, Stanikzai has lived in Doha for nearly a decade and became the head of the group’s political office there in 2015.

He has taken part in negotiations with the Afghan government and has represented the Taliban on diplomatic trips to several countries.

Abdul Hakim Haqqani
He is head of the Taliban’s negotiating team. The Taliban’s former shadow chief justice heads its powerful council of religious scholars and is widely believed to be the person Akhunzada trusts most.

I hope there won't be battle of supremacy among the leaders.

Their government will not last...they just wanted to make statement...and they've succeeded

All will end in 6 feet...its just a matter of time

Jubrin Al Sudani- Deployed on the African continent to cause chaos and unrest. Operates major cells in Sudan and some parts of West Africa

Pakistan the Islamabad nation would be next to fall into this Islamic pit

At a time when we are dealing with so many other important global issues like the CCP and Covid .

Let me be absolutely clear. The international community, and in particular the United States, is completely abandoning Afghanistan (despite any attempt by the State Department to gaslight Afghans), just like in 1989 when the Soviets left. Sadly, because of this, we’re going to have to get used again to hearing the phrase “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”, just like between 1996 and 2001.

Because once again, we’re going to see the horrendous state of women’s and girl’s rights. Forbidden from going to school and getting lashed for the crime of showing an ankle. Do I really need to go into any more detail about the scale of abuse that was unleashed upon half the Afghan population during the Taliban first reign. Taliban reign this time is not gonna be any different.

Once again, the death penalty will be given for people who are gay. There was an article a while ago about Taliban ‘debates’ over which method of execution would be the best, the most humane for them. Give me a fucking break.

Once again, we’re going to hear about the (Tali)bans on TV, radio, card games, chess, music and more. And of course the lashings, beatings, and executions in football stadiums for those who dare to break these strict edicts.

Once again, we’re going to have the massacres and the ethnic cleansing, despite the Taliban attempt to portray itself as a more unified force. For instance, the Hazaras (who promote democracy, religious pluralism and tolerance, and universal education), are at the lowest rung of the totem pole for the Taliban. Thousands of them were massacred by Taliban.

Once again, we’re going to have the expansion of the drug trade that will have major consequences in cities all around the world. Of course, ordinary Afghans consuming any kind of drugs (which includes alcohol) will be met with swift punishment. But growing opium to export heroin all over the world, is the best thing ever, because they get to finance their operations, and they get to inflict misery in the decadent West.

We also need to think about the increase of Chinese influence. Apparently this abandonment is being done to have more resources to counter China, do people not realize that China is very much interested in the region? Do people not realize that the Taliban and China are playing footsie?

Once again, we’re going to see increased regional and global instability. This would involve the spread of radical Islamic ideology (not just to the West, but to the Middle East, Central and South Asia); as well as another refugee crisis.

And of course, once again a safe haven for terrorist groups like al-Qa’ida. Because as the UN has found, contrary to their statements, the Taliban relations with al-Qa’ida have never been stronger. This is after decades of intermarriage and mingling together. The few thousand troops that were there, were an insurance policy against another 9/11. Now that those are going, it’s harder to get intelligence, harder to do special ops, harder to do airstrikes. So al-Qa’ida will reconstitute, and will start to plan and do mass-casualty attacks in the West and all over the world. I don’t need to go more in detail about this aspect, do I?

Let’s share a thought also, for all the Afghans who were interpreters, translators, or participating with international NGOs. The Taliban are probably making lists of these people who they want to go after.

In every single way, the return of a fascist, theocratic state that we already know has been horrible, should not be even close to becoming a reality. Seriously, what timeline are we living in? All of this really does feel surreal, precisely because it feels like we’re engaging in a repeat of a phase of history (that I might have a few very vague, very fuzzy memories of) that is preordained to ‘not go well’ for millions of people.

This people no geh joy oo

Mikecold:
Pakistan the Islamabad nation would be next to fall into this Islamic pit

Pakistan is already an Islamic nation so what are you saying?

MightyEmperor:
Pakistan is already an Islamic nation so what are you saying?

it's soon to join the Terrorists ruling government list