Leaders, Ministers and Deputy Ministers (italicized and bold name indicates captured or killed by U.S.-coalition forces) |
Name |
Position |
Situation |
Mullah Mohammed Omar |
Emir of Afghanistan; Head of the Taliban Movement |
At large |
Mullah Mohammad Rabbani |
Chairman of the Ruling Council; Head of the Council of Ministers |
Died in Pakistan of liver cancer, April 2001 |
Mullah Mohammad Hasan |
First Deputy Council of Ministers |
At large; spoke to Reuters by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location on May 4, 2003 |
Mawlawi Abdul Kabir |
Second Deputy Council of Ministers |
At large |
Abdul Wakil Motawakil |
Minister of Foreign Affairs |
Surrendered to US troops in 2002; released in 2003; ran for Afghan parliament in 2005. |
Abdul Rahman Zahed |
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs |
Allegedly created an impression that he entered Pakistan after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, but had returned before the end of 2001 to his home village in Loghar province[1]; at large |
Mullah Abdul Jalil |
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs |
At large |
Mullah Ubaidullah Akhund |
Minister of Defense |
Last heard from in a wireless interview from Kunduz province, late November 2001 [2]; at large |
Mullah Abdul Razaq |
Minister of Interior Affairs |
Afghan forces captured Razaq while scouring a rugged mountainous region north of Kandahar, April 1, 2003.[3] Razaq's son, Abdul, had been killed on September 5, 2002 as he tried to shoot President Hamid Karzai |
Mullah Khaksar Akhund |
Deputy Minister of Interior Affairs |
Staged a public press conference in Kabul, late November, 2001 and denounced the Taliban; by August 2002, he supports the U.S.-backed Afghan government of Hamid Karzai[4]; at large |
Mohammad Sharif |
Deputy Minister of Interior Affairs |
At large |
Qari Ahmadullah |
Minister of Security (Intelligence) |
Killed in late December, 2001 by a U.S. bombing raid in the Paktia province [5] |
Mullah Nooruddin Turabi |
Minister of Justice |
Allegedly sheltered in Quetta by Pakistani officials by the end of 2001 [1]; captured by U.S. forces and then set free and given general amnesty in early January 2002 [6][7] |
Qari Din Mohammad |
Minister of Planning |
At large |
Amir Khan Muttaqi |
Minister of Culture & Information |
Allegedly moved to Peshawar, Pakistan before the end of 2001 and still "hiding out in the Pakistani frontier" March 19, 2002 [1][8]; still at large |
Mullah Ghausuddin |
Foreign Minister |
Killed in a gun battle in Zabul province, May 27, 2003 [9] |
Mullah Abbas Akhund |
Minister of Health |
In February 2002, he was "hiding with his military force about 5 miles from Uruzgan village" [10]; at large |
Sher Abbas Stanekzai |
Deputy Minister of Health |
At large |
Mullah Abdul Salam Haqqani |
Minister of Education |
At large |
Mullah Yar Mohammad |
Minister of Communication |
At large |
Alla Dad Tayeb |
Deputy Minister of Communication |
At large |
Alhaj Mullah Mohammad Isa Akhund |
Minister of Mines and Industries |
At large |
Mawlawi Mohammadullah Mati' |
Minister of Public Works |
At large |
Mawlawi Rostam Nuristani |
Deputy Minister of Public Works |
At large |
Hafez Mohibullah |
Minister of Haj and Religious Affairs |
At large |
Mawlawi Moslim Haqqani |
First Deputy Council of Ministers |
At large |
Mawlawi Abdul Raqib |
First Deputy Council of Ministers |
Unknown (is he the same Abdul Raqib as the official from the agriculture department in 2003? [1]) |
Mullah Mohammad Jan Akhund |
Minister of Water and Electricity |
At large |
Mawlawi Faiz Mohammad Faizan |
Deputy Minister of Commerce |
At large |
Mawlawi Abdul Hakim Monib |
Deputy Minister of Frontier Affairs |
At large |
Mawlawi Shahid Khel |
Deputy Minister of Education |
Captured in Afghanistan in early April 2003 |
Sattar Sadozai |
"A key intelligence official" |
Captured in Afghanistan in early April 2003 |
Zabihullah Zahid |
Deputy Minister of Education |
Arrested in Balkh province, Afghanistan in early August 2003 |
Governors |
Name |
Position |
Situation |
Mullah Niaz Mohammad |
Governor of Kabul Province |
At large |
Mawlawi Abdul Kabir |
Governor of Nangrahar Province; Head of Eastern Zone; (also see above) |
Allegedly moved to Peshawar, Pakistan before the end of 2001 [2] |
Mawlawi Khair Mohammad Khairkhwah |
Governor of Herat Province |
At large |
Mawlawi Nurullah Nuri |
Governor of Balkh Province; Head of Northern Zone |
In December 2001, he was captured and known to be in Mazar-I Sharif in the custody of Afghan Northern Alliance commander Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum [3]; whereabouts now unknown |
Na'im Kucki |
Governor of Bamian Province |
At large |
Commander Bahsir Baghlani |
Governor of Baghlan |
At large |
Commander Arif Khan |
Governor of Kunduz Province |
Assassinated in Pakistan April, 2000 |
Mawlawi Shariqullah Mohammadi |
Governor of Khost Province |
At large |
Mawlawi Ahmad Jan |
Governor of Zabul Province |
At large |
Mullah Dost Mohammad |
Governor of Ghazni Province |
At large |
Mullah Badar |
Governor of Badghis Province |
Captured by Afghan forces in the province of Badghis in early April 2003 |
Field commanders
Name |
Position |
Situation |
Mullah Fazel Mohammad Mazloom |
Chief of Staff |
|
Mawlawi Dadullah |
? |
- Escaped from the siege of Kunduz in November 2001 and reached Kandahar. Took part in the evacuation of Qandahar, then may have returned to his native town Kajai in Helmand province [11]; allegedly participated (by giving orders via cell phone) in the murder of Ricardo Munguia on March 27, 2003
- Mawlawi Dadullah was allegedly "captured" on Friday 19th May 2006. But it seems that those reports were false, as there is no proof of it, and that he is still at large. He was one of the most effective commanders in the resistance.
- He was nicknamed by the anti-Taliban resistance before the Taliban government fell as the Lame Englishman because he a) lost a leg in the jihad and because b) he's as cunning as the devilish English.
- He has been linked to massacres of Shi'a, the scorched earth policy of Shi'a villages in 2001 (which he boasted about once on the radio), the summary execution of men suspected of throwing hand grenades into his compound in 2001 (they were hanged at one of the main roundabouts).
|
Mawlawi Nanai |
? |
At large |
Mullah Ahmadullah |
? |
? |
Mawlawi Habibullah Ershad |
Commander of Shamali front |
At large |
Jalaluddin Haqqani |
Described as Taliban's current military leader |
- First mujahideen commander to capture a city, Khost, from the Soviets, in 1991.[11]
- Didn't ally with the Taliban until after their capture of Kabul in 1995.
- Hamid Karzai asked him to serve as Prime Minister, in an attempt to split off the Taliban's moderate wing.
|
Abdul Razaq Nafez |
? |
|
Juma Khan |
Military commander |
- Captured by Afghan forces in the province of Badghis in early April 2003
|
Mullah Shahzada |
provincial commander |
- Interviewed by the New York Times in Pakistan, in 2003.[12]
- Later reports, apparently based on the NYT article, additionally claimed he was captured in 2001, sent to Guantánamo, released 2003, killed in US raid on Taliban in late May 2004. But the only Shahzada held in Guantanamo wasn't captured until 2003, and wasn't released until 2005. There is no evidence that the Guantanmo detainee named Shahzada was ever a member of the Taliban, or that he had enrolled in the Taliban following his release.
|
Mullah Haji Amir |
militia commander |
killed in US raid on Taliban in late May 2004 |
Mullah Tohr Maqid |
militia commander |
killed in US raid on Taliban in late May 2004 |
Mullah Muhammad Hasan Rehmani |
militia commander |
At large |
Baitullah Mehsud |
field commander |
|
Sakhi Dad Mujahid |
field commander |
- Taliban commander of Southern and Western Afghanistan circa winter 2004.
- Brother-in-law of Mullah Omar.
- Captured through his use of a Thuraya satellite phone.
|
Gul Mohammed Jangvi |
field commander |
|