Mohammed Omar

For those of a similar name, see Mohamed Omer (disambiguation).
Mohammed Omar
ملا محمد عمر

A man believed to be Omar, 1993
Head of the Supreme Council of Afghanistan[1][2][3]
In office
27 September 1996 – 13 November 2001
Prime Minister Mohammad Rabbani
Abdul Kabir (acting)
Preceded by Burhanuddin Rabbani (President)
Succeeded by Burhanuddin Rabbani (President)
Personal details
Born c. 1950–1962
Kandahar Province, Afghanistan
Died 23 April 2013(2013-04-23) (aged 50–63)
Alma mater Darul Uloom Haqqania
Religion Sunni Islam (Deobandi)[4]
Military service
Allegiance Mujahideen (1983–1991)
Taliban (1994–2013)
Years of service 1983–1991
1994–2013
Battles/wars Soviet-Afghan War
 • Battle of Arghandab[5]
Afghan Civil War
 • Battle of Jalalabad[6]

Mullah Mohammed Omar (Dari / Pashto: ملا محمد عمر مجاهد‎, Mullā Muḥammad ‘Umar; c. 1950–1962[7][8] – 23 April 2013[9][10][11]), or simply Mullah Omar, was an Afghan mujahideen commander who founded the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in 1996. The Taliban recognized him as Commander of the Faithful or the Supreme Leader of the Muslims[12] until being succeeded by Mullah Akhtar Mansour in 2015. Some sources described Mullah Omar as "Head of the Supreme Council of Afghanistan".[13]

Omar was wanted by the United States Department of State's Rewards for Justice program after October 2001 for sheltering Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda militants in the years prior to the September 11 attacks.[14] He was believed to be directing the Taliban insurgency against NATO-led forces and the government of Afghanistan.

During his tenure as Emir of Afghanistan, Omar seldom left the city of Kandahar and rarely met with outsiders,[15] instead relying on Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil for the majority of diplomatic necessities.

In July 2015, the Afghan government reported that Omar had died in 2013 in the Pakistani city of Karachi.[16] These reports were confirmed by Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) and the Taliban's Quetta Shura.[17]

Early life

According to most sources, Omar was born sometime between 1950 and 1962[8] in a village in Kandahar Province, Kingdom of Afghanistan (in present-day Kandahar Province or Uruzgan Province).[18][19] Some suggest his birth year as 1950[20][21] or 1953,[22] or as late as around 1966.[22][23] According to "a surprise biography" published by the Taliban in April 2015, he was born in 1960.[24]

His exact place of birth is also uncertain; one possibility is a village called Nodeh near the city of Kandahar.[25][26][27] Matinuddin writes that he was born in 1961 in Nodeh village, Panjwai District, Kandahar Province.[28] Others say Omar was born in a village of the same name in Uruzgan Province.[19] In Omar's entry in the UNSC's Taliban Sanctions List, "Nodeh village, Deh Rahwod District, Uruzgan Province" is given as a possible birthplace.[22] Other reports say Omar was born in 1960 in Noori village near Kandahar.[29] 'Noori village, Maiwand District, Kandahar Province' is a second location suggested in Omar's entry in the Sanctions List.[22] According to a biography of Mullah Omar published online by the Taliban in April 2015, he was born in 1960 in the village of Chah-i-Himmat, in Khakrez District, Kandahar Province.[30] It has also been mentioned that Sangasar was his home village.[31] Better established than Omar's place of birth is that his childhood home was in Deh Rahwod District, Uruzgan Province, having moved to a village there with his uncle after the death of his father (though some identify the district as Omar's birthplace).[18][32] He attended Darul Uloom Haqqania.[33]

An ethnic Pashtun, he was born in conservative rural Afghanistan to a poor landless family of the Hotak tribe, which is part of the larger Ghilzai branch.[25] According to Hamid Karzai, "Omar's father was a local religious leader, but the family was poor and had absolutely no political links in Kandahar or Kabul. They were essentially lower middle class Afghans and were definitely not members of the elite."[34] His father Mawlawi Ghulam Nabi[22] Akhund died when Omar was young.[18] According to Omar's own words he was 3 years old when his father died, and thereafter he was raised by his uncles.[35] One of his uncles married Omar's mother, and the family moved to a village in the poor Deh Rawod District, where the uncle was a religious teacher.[18] It is reported that they lived in the village of Dehwanawark, close to the town of Deh Rahwod.[36]

Mujahideen era

After the 1978 Saur Revolution in Afghanistan, Omar went to Karachi, Pakistan, in 1979 "to study at the Jamia Binoria Dar-ul-Aloom, the city's premier seminary for orthodox Sunni Muslims."[37] After the Soviet invasion, the family moved to Tarinkot in Urozgan province. Young Mohammed was left to fend for his family. Unemployed, Omar moved to Singesar village in Kandahar province, and became the mullah, where he established a madrassa in a mud hut. He returned to Afghanistan in 1982 to fight with Hizb-e-Islami party, one of seven such parties training across the Afghan province.[38]

Omar fought as a rebel soldier with the anti-Soviet Mujahideen under the command of Nek Mohammad of the Hizb-e-Islami Khalis, but did not fight against the communist regime of Najibullah regime between 1989 and 1992.[25] It was reported that he was thin, but tall and strongly built, and "a crack marksman who had destroyed many Soviet tanks during the Afghan War."[39]

Omar was wounded four times. Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef claims to have been present when exploding shrapnel destroyed one of Omar's eyes during a battle in Sangsar, Panjwaye District shortly before the 1987 Battle of Arghandab.[5] Other sources place this event in 1986[40] or in the 1989 Battle of Jalalabad.[6] It was reported among the atrocities young girls and boys were being taken and raped by the commanders. By 1993, the mujaheddin from Urozgan province had resolved to fight against the oppressive regime, and joined with other groups to call themselves Taliban (translated as "Students of Islam").

Unlike many Afghan mujaheddin, Omar spoke Arabic.[41] He was devoted to the lectures of Sheikh Abdullah Azzam,[42] and took a job teaching in a madrassa in Quetta, Pakistan. He later moved to a mosque in Karachi, where he led prayers, and later met with Osama bin Laden for the first time.[15]

Forming the Taliban

Following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 and the collapse of Najibullah's regime in 1992, the country fell into chaos as various mujahideen factions fought for control. Mullah Omar went back to the madrassa at Singesar, although when he returned to religious teaching is unclear.[43] According to one legend, in 1994, he had a dream in which a woman told him: "We need your help; you must rise. You must end the chaos. Allah will help you."[43] Mullah Omar started his movement with less than 50 armed madrassah students, known simply as the Taliban (Pashtun for 'students'). His recruits came from madrassas in Afghanistan and from the Afghan refugee camps across the border in Pakistan. They fought against the rampant corruption that had emerged in the civil war period and were initially welcomed by Afghans weary of warlord rule. Apparently, Omar became sickened by the abusive raping of children by warlords and turned against their authority in the mountainous country of Afghanistan from 1994 onwards.[44] A unit of 30 Talibs under Omar's command attacked the village camp and freed the girls.

The practice of bacha bazi by warlords was one of the key factors in Mullah Omar mobilizing the Taliban.[45] Reportedly, in early 1994, Omar led 30 men armed with 16 rifles to free two young girls who had been kidnapped and raped by a warlord, hanging him from a tank gun barrel.[46] Another instance arose when in 1994, a few months before the Taliban took control of Kandahar, two militia commanders confronted each other over a young boy whom they both wanted to sodomize. In the ensuing fight, Omar’s group freed the boy; appeals soon flooded in for Omar to intercede in other disputes.[47] His movement gained momentum through the year, and he quickly gathered recruits from Islamic schools totaling 12,000 by the year's end, with some Pakistani volunteers. By November 1994, Mullah Omar's movement managed to capture the whole of the Kandahar Province and then captured Herat in September 1995.[48] Although some accounts estimated that by the spring of 1995 he had already taken 12 of the 31 provinces in Afghanistan.[49]

Leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

A still from a 1996 video taken secretly by BBC Newsnight. It purports to show Omar (left) presenting the cloak of Muhammad to his troops in Kandahar, before their victorious assault on Kabul.
Mullah Omar ordered the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan (pictured in 1976) in March 2001, receiving international condemnation

On 4 April 1996, supporters of Mullah Omar bestowed on him the title Amir al-Mu'minin (أمير المؤمنين, "Commander of the Faithful"),[50] after he donned a cloak alleged to be that of Muhammad that was locked in a series of chests, held inside the Shrine of the Cloak in the city of Kandahar. Legend decreed that whoever could retrieve the cloak from the chest would be the great Leader of the Muslims, or "Amir al-Mu'minin".[51]

In September 1996, Kabul fell to Mullah Omar and his followers. The civil war continued in the northeast corner of the country, near Tajikistan. The nation was named the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in October 1997 and was recognized by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Described as a "reclusive, pious and frugal" leader,[15] Omar very seldom left his residence in the city of Kandahar, and visited Kabul only twice between 1996 to 2001 during his tenure as ruler of Afghanistan. In November 2001 during a radio interview with the BBC, Omar stated: "All Taliban are moderate. There are two things: extremism ['ifraat', or doing something to excess] and conservatism ['tafreet', or doing something insufficiently]. So in that sense, we are all moderates – taking the middle path."[52]

According to Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai, Mullah Omar stated in the late 1990s that "We have told Osama not to use Afghan soil to carry out political activities as it creates unnecessary confusion about Taliban objectives."[53]

In 1998, despite receiving a personal invitation from Saudi Arabia’s ruler at the time, King Fahd, Omar did not make any pilgrimage to Mecca in his lifetime.[54]

In March 2001, the Buddhas of Bamiyan were destroyed by the Taliban under an edict issued from Mullah Omar, stating: "all the statues around Afghanistan must be destroyed."[55] This prompted an international outcry.[56]

In a November 2001 BBC's Pashto interview, Omar said, "You (the BBC) and American puppet radios have created concern. But the current situation in Afghanistan is related to a bigger cause – that is the destruction of America.... This is not a matter of weapons. We are hopeful for God's help. The real matter is the extinction of America. And, God willing, it [America] will fall to the ground...."[52]

In exile

Shortly after the U.S.-led War in Afghanistan began in early October 2001, Omar secretly fled from his residence in Kandahar. According to fellow Taliban fighters, he was last seen riding on the back of a motorcycle driven by his brother-in-law and right-hand man, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. Senior and former Taliban officials have said that there has not been one confirmed sighting of their Amir-ul-Momineen (commander of the faithful) in Afghanistan since then. Omar is believed to have hid out for over one year in the mountains and deserts of southern Afghanistan before fleeing to neighboring Pakistan in late 2002. According to sources, he was living for a time somewhere in Karachi, Pakistan, where he worked as a potato trader.[37] The United States offered a reward of US$10 million for information leading to his capture.[14] In November 2001, he was heard over a short-wave radio in ordering all Taliban troops to abandon Kabul and take to the mountains, noting, "defending the cities with front lines that can be targeted from the air will cause us terrible loss."[57]

Claiming that the Americans had circulated "propaganda" that Mullah Omar had gone into hiding, Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil stated that he would like to "propose that prime minister Blair and president Bush take Kalashnikovs and come to a specified place where Omar will also appear to see who will run and who not." He stated that Omar was merely changing locations due to security reasons.[58]

In the opening weeks of October 2001, Omar's house in Kandahar was bombed, killing his 10-year-old son and his uncle.[59]

Mullah Omar continued to have the allegiance of prominent pro-Taliban military leaders in the region, including Jalaluddin Haqqani. The former foe Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's faction also reportedly allied with Omar and the Taliban. In April 2004, Omar was interviewed via phone by Pakistani journalist Mohammad Shehzad.[60] During the interview, Omar claimed that Osama Bin Laden was alive and well, and that his last contact with Bin Laden was months before the interview. Omar declared that the Taliban were "hunting Americans like pigs."[60]

A captured Taliban spokesman, Muhammad Hanif, told Afghan authorities in January 2007, that Omar was being protected by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Quetta, Pakistan.[61]

In the years following the allied invasion numerous statements were released that were identified as coming from Omar. In June 2006, a statement regarding the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq was released hailing al-Zarqawi as a martyr and claimed that the resistance movements in Afghanistan and Iraq "will not be weakened".[62] Then in December 2006 Omar reportedly issued a statement expressing confidence that foreign forces will be driven out of Afghanistan.[63]

In January 2007, it was reported that Omar made his "first exchange with a journalist since going into hiding" in 2001 with Muhammad Hanif via email and courier. In it he promised "more Afghan War", and said the over one hundred suicide bomb attacks in Afghanistan in the last year had been carried out by bombers acting on religious orders from the Taliban – "the mujahedeen do not take any action without a fatwa."[64] In April 2007, Omar issued another statement through an intermediary encouraging more suicide attacks.[65]

In November 2009, The Washington Times claimed that Omar, assisted by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), had moved back to Karachi in October.[66] In January 2010, Brigadier Amir Sultan Tarar, a retired officer with ISI who previously trained Omar, said that he was ready to break with his al-Qaida allies in order to make peace in Afghanistan: "The moment he gets control the first target will be the al-Qaida people."[67]

In January 2011, The Washington Post, citing a report from the Eclipse Group, a privately operated intelligence network that may be contracted by the CIA, stated that Omar had suffered a heart attack on 7 January 2011. According to the report, Pakistan's ISI rushed Omar to a hospital near Karachi where he was operated on, treated, and then released several days later. Pakistan's Ambassador to the U.S., Husain Haqqani, stated that the report "had no basis whatsoever".[68]

On 23 May 2011, TOLO News in Afghanistan quoted unnamed sources saying Omar had been killed by ISI two days earlier. These reports remained unconfirmed.[69] A spokesman for the militant group said shortly after the news came out. "Reports regarding the killing of Amir-ul-Moemineen (Omar) are false. He is safe and sound and is not in Pakistan but Afghanistan."[70] On 20 July 2011, phone text messages from accounts used by Taliban spokesmen Zabihullah Mujahid and Qari Mohammad Yousuf announced Omar's death. Mujahid and Yousuf, however, quickly denied sending the messages, claimed that their mobile phones, websites, and e-mail accounts had been hacked, and they swore revenge on the telephone network providers.[71]

In 2012, it was revealed that an individual claiming to be Omar sent a letter to President Barack Obama in 2011, expressing slight interest in peace talks.[72][73]

On 31 May 2014, in return for the release of American prisoner of war Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, five senior Afghan detainees were released from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. A person purporting to be Omar reportedly hailed their release.[74]

On 23 September 2014, Omar's aide, Abdul Rahman Nika, was killed by Afghan special forces. According to Afghan intelligence service spokesman Abdul Nasheed Sediqi, Nika was involved in most of the Taliban's attacks in western Afghanistan, including the kidnapping of three Indian engineers, who were later rescued.[75]

Post-NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan

In December 2014, acting Afghan intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil stated he was not sure "whether Omar is alive or dead". This came amid reports after the Afghan intelligence agency revealed fracturing within the Taliban movement, speculating that a leadership struggle had ensued and therefore that Mullah Omar had died.[76] Later reports from Afghan intelligence in December revealed that Mullah Omar has been hiding in the Pakistani city of Karachi. An anonymous European intelligence official who confirmed this has stated that "there's a consensus among all three branches of the Afghan security forces that Mullah Omar is alive. Not only do they think he's alive, they say they have a good understanding of where exactly he is in Karachi."[77]

Emergence of ISIS

In April 2015, a man claiming to be Mullah Omar issued a fatwa declaring pledges of allegiance to the Islamic State group as forbidden in Islamic law. The man described ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as a "fake caliph", and said "Baghdadi just wanted to dominate what has so far been achieved by the real jihadists of Islam after three decades of jihad. A pledge of allegiance to him is 'haram'." However, Mullah Omar was later found to have died two years earlier, suggesting that these remarks came from his successor Akhtar Mansour.[78]

Death

On 29 July 2015, the Afghan government publicly announced that Mohammed Omar had died on 23 April 2013 from tuberculosis, among other physical ailments.[9][10] It was confirmed by a senior Taliban member that Omar's death was kept a secret for two years.[79] It is alleged that Omar was "buried somewhere near the border on the Afghan side".[11][80][81] The place of Omar's death is disputed; according to Afghan government sources, he died in Karachi, Pakistan.[9] A former Taliban minister stated that Karachi was "Omar’s natural destination because he had lived there for quite some time and was as familiar with the city as any other resident."[37] However, this claim has been dismissed by other Taliban members, stating that his death occurred in Afghanistan after his health condition had deteriorated due to "sickness", and that "not for a single day did he go to Pakistan".[11] According to an official statement by Pakistani defence minister Khawaja Asif, "Mullah Omar neither died nor was buried in Pakistan and his sons’ statements are on record to support this. Whether he died now or two years ago is another controversy which we do not wish to be a part of. He was neither in Karachi nor in Quetta."[82] Initially, some Taliban members denied that he had died; other sources considered the report to be speculative, designed to destabilise peace negotiations in Pakistan between the Afghan government and the Taliban.[16] Abdul Hassib Seddiqi, the spokesman for Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS), said: "We confirm officially that he is dead."[83]

The following day, the Taliban confirmed the death of Omar; sources close to the Taliban leadership said his deputy, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, would replace him, although with the lesser title of Supreme Leader. Omar's eldest son, Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob was opposed to Mansour's ascension as leader.[84]

The Taliban splinter group Fidai Mahaz claimed Omar did not die of natural causes but was instead assassinated in a coup led by Mullah Akhtar Mansour and Mullah Gul Agha. The Taliban commander Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, brother of former senior commander Mullah Dadullah confirmed that Omar had been assassinated.[85] The leader of Fidai Mahaz, Mullah Najibullah, revealed that due to Omar's kidney disease, he needed medicine. According to Najibullah, Mansour poisoned the medicine, damaging Omar's liver and causing him to grow weaker. When Omar summoned Mansour and other members of Omar's inner circle to hear his will, they discovered that Mansour was not to assume leadership of the Taliban. It was due to Mansour allegedly orchestrating "dishonourable deals". When Mansour pressed Omar to name him as his successor, Omar refused. Mansour then shot and killed Omar. Najibullah claimed Omar died at a southern Afghanistan hide-out in Zabul Province in the afternoon on 23 April 2013.[86][87] Mullah Yaqoob denied that his father had been killed, insisting that he died of natural causes.[88]

Personal life

Despite his political rank and his high status on the Rewards for Justice most wanted list,[14] not much was publicly known about him. Only two known photos exist of him, neither of them official, and a picture used in 2002 by many media outlets has since been established to be someone other than him. The authenticity of the existing images is debated.[89] Apart from the fact that he had a missing eye, accounts of his physical appearance state that Omar was very tall, at around 2 m (6 ft 6 in).[15][90] Mullah Omar was described as shy and non-talkative with foreigners.[91]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Mullah Mohammed Omar". The Independent. 31 July 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  2. ↑ "Where Will the New Taliban Leader Lead His People?". Moscow Carnegie Center. 11 August 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  3. ↑ "Mullah Omar: Life chapter of Taliban’s supreme leader comes to end". CNN. 29 July 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  4. ↑ Deobandi Islam: The Religion of the Taliban U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps, 15 October 2001
  5. 1 2 Abdul Salam Zaeef (2010) My Life with the Taliban
  6. 1 2 Arnaud de Borchgrave, "Osama bin Laden – Null and Void", UPI, 14 June 2001, quoted in Wright, Looming Tower, (2006), p. 226
  7. ↑ Matthew Rosenberg (28 December 2014). "Around an Invisible Leader, Taliban Power Shifts". The New York Times. p. A3.
  8. 1 2 Shane, Scott (10 October 2009). "Dogged Taliban Chief Rebounds, Vexing U.S.". Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 Goldstein, Joseph; Shah, Taimoor (2015-07-30). "Death of Mullah Omar Exposes Divisions Within Taliban". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-07-31.
  10. 1 2 Nikhil Kumar (29 July 2015). "Mullah Omar Taliban Death". Time. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 "Mullah Omar did not die in Pakistan, say Afghan Taliban". Dawn News. 30 July 2015. Archived from the original on 31 July 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  12. ↑ http://rulers.org/indexo.html#omar
  13. ↑ "Mullah Mohammed Omar". The Independent. 31 July 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2016. and "Where Will the New Taliban Leader Lead His People?". Moscow Carnegie Center. 11 August 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2016.. See also , , and The Supreme Council was initially established at Kandahar in 1994.
  14. 1 2 3 "Wanted Information leading to the location of Mullah Omar Up to $10 Million Reward". Rewards for Justice Program, U.S. Department of State.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Griffiths, John C. Afghanistan: A History of Conflict, 1981. Second Revision, 2001.
  16. 1 2 "Taliban conflict: Afghanistan probes Mullah Omar 'death' claim". BBC News. 29 July 2015.
  17. ↑ "Afghanistan says Taliban leader Mullah Omar died 2 years ago". msn.com.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Coll, Steve (23 January 2012). "Looking For Mullah Omar". The New Yorker.
  19. 1 2 "Factbox: Five Facts on Taliban Leader Mullah Mohammad Omar". Reuters. 17 November 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  20. ↑ Shane, Scott (11 October 2009). "A Dogged Taliban Chief Rebounds, Vexing U.S.". The New York Times. p. A1.
  21. ↑ "Mohammad Omar". Encyclopædia Britannica. 3 October 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 United Nations Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1988 (2011). "The List of individuals and entities established pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1988 (2011)"
  23. ↑ Mickolus, Edward F.; Simmons, Susan L. (2011). The Terrorist List. Vol. 1. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger Security International. p. 200. ISBN 9780313374715.
  24. ↑ The Daily Telegraph, Friday 31 July 2015
  25. 1 2 3 Rashid, Taliban, (2001)
  26. ↑ "The top leader is believed to be Maulvi Mohammad Umar Amir, who was born in Nodeh (village) in Kandhar, and is now settled in Singesar. He was wounded four times in the battles against the Soviets and his right eye is permanently damaged. He took part in the "Jehad" under the late Hizb-e-Islami Khalis Commander Nek Mohammad.". Indian Defence Review 10: 33. 1995.
  27. ↑ Yunas, S. Fida (1997). Afghanistan: Political Parties, Groups, Movements and Mujahideen Alliances and Governments 1879–1997. Vol. 2. p. 876. Amir of the Taliban and commander of its Mohammadi Lashkar. Born in Nodeh village in Kandhar, now lives in Singesar village in Kuashke Nakhud area of Kandahar's Maiwand district. His family once shifted to Tarinkot, capital of Uruzgan province, before settling in Singesar.
  28. ↑ Matinuddin, Kamal (1999). The Taliban Phenomenon: Afghanistan 1994–1997. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 222. ISBN 9780195792744.
  29. ↑ Mullah ((Omar)) and the Council of Ministers (PDF) (Intelligence Information Report). U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. 7 November 2001.
  30. ↑ "Afghan Taliban publish Mullah Omar biography". BBC News. 5 April 2015.
  31. ↑ "Obituary: Mullah Omar In the land of the blind". The Economist. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  32. ↑ "Strengthening the humanity and dignity of people in crisis through knowledge and practice" (PDF). Feinstein Research Center. August 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2012. Politically and tribally, Uruzgan is part of “greater Kandahar,” and the origin of many of the Taliban’s original leaders, including Mullah Mohammad Omar, who was born in Deh Rawood District.
  33. ↑ "Mullah Muhammed Omar: A Psychobiographical Profile". 10 January 2011. Retrieved November 2014.
  34. ↑ "Afghanistan: The Enigmatic Mullah Omar and Taliban Decision-Making". WikiLeaks. 28 March 1997. WikiLeaks cable: 97ISLAMABAD2533_a.
  35. ↑ Mohammed Omar (11 January 2001). نص كلمة زعيم طالبان رداً على أسئلة الجزيرة نت / Naṣṣ kalimat za‘īm Ṭālibān raddan ‘alá as’alat al-Jazīrah Nit [Text of Taliban chief's words in response to questions from Aljazeera.net]. aljazeera.net (in Arabic). (Interview). Audio link (in Pashto with Arabic voiceover).
  36. ↑ Gall, Carlotta (22 May 2002). "Seeking Mullah Omar in a Land of Secrets". The New York Times.
  37. 1 2 3 "Mullah Omar worked as potato vendor to escape detection in Pakistan". McClatchy. 4 August 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  38. ↑ The Daily Telegraph, Friday 31 July 2015, p.35
  39. ↑ Ismail Khan, "Mojaddedi Opposes Elevation of Taliban's Omar", Islamabad the News, 6 April 1996, quoted in Wright, Looming Tower, (2006), p. 226
  40. ↑ Williams, Paul L., "Al Qaeda: Brotherhood of Terror", 2002
  41. ↑ interview with Farraj Ismail, by Lawrence Wright in Looming Tower, (2006), p.226
  42. ↑ Wright, Looming Tower, (2006), p. 226
  43. 1 2 Dexter Filkins, The Forever War (New York: Vintage Books/Random House, 2009; orig. ed. 2008), p.30.
  44. ↑ The Daily Telegraph, Fri 31 July 2015, Obituary, p.35; citing Rashid, Taliban (2000)
  45. ↑ "Bacha Bazi: An Afghan Tragedy". October 2013. Retrieved 2015.
  46. ↑ National Geographic (2007). Inside The Taliban [Inside The Taliban] (Documentary). Afghanistan: National Geographic.
  47. ↑ Reid, Tim (12 January 2002). "Kandahar comes out of the closet". The Times. Archived at Free Republic. Quote: "The rape of young boys by warlords was one of the key factors in Mullah Omar mobilising the Taleban.... In the summer of 1994, a few months before the Taleban took control of the city, two commanders confronted each other over a young boy whom they both wanted to sodomise. In the ensuing fight, Omar's group freed the boy and appeals began flooding in for Omar to help in other disputes."
  48. ↑ Goodson (2001) p. 107
  49. ↑ The Daily Telegraph, 31 July 2015, p.35
  50. ↑ Tim Weiner (7 December 2001). "Seizing the Prophet's Mantle: Muhammad Omar". The New York Times. Retrieved November 2014.
  51. ↑ Healy, Patrick (19 December 2001). "Kandahar residents feel betrayed". San Francisco Chronicle. The Boston Globe.
  52. 1 2 "Interview with Mullah Omar – transcript". BBC News. 15 November 2001. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  53. ↑ Robert Marquand (10 October 2001). "The reclusive ruler who runs the Taliban". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  54. ↑ "Afghanistan: Has Taliban Leader Mullah Omar Lost His Mind?". Newsweek. 15 October 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  55. ↑ Luke Harding (2001-03-03). "How the Buddha got his wounds". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  56. ↑ Barry Bearak (4 March 2001). "Over World Protests, Taliban Are Destroying Ancient Buddhas". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015.
  57. ↑ Stephen Tanner, Afghanistan: A Military History, 2008
  58. ↑ Independent Online, Taliban challenges Bush and Blair to a duel, 5 November 2001
  59. ↑ Independent Online, "They said Mullah Omar's natural father had died years before and, following Afghan custom, his mother had married his uncle."Refugees say Taliban leader's son killed, 11 October 2001
  60. 1 2 "The Rediff Interview/Mullah Omar". Rediff.com. 12 April 2004. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  61. ↑ "Mullah Omar 'hiding in Pakistan'". BBC News. 18 January 2007.
  62. ↑ "Taliban play down Zarqawi death". BBC News. 9 June 2006. Retrieved 2 July 2006.
  63. ↑ "Mullah Omar issues Eid message". Al Jazeera. 31 December 2006. Retrieved 1 January 2007.
  64. ↑ Ismail Khan; Carlotta Gall (5 January 2007). "Taliban Leader Promises More Afghan War". The New York Times. p. A4. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  65. ↑ "Taliban's elusive leader urges more suicide raids". Reuters. 21 April 2007. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
  66. ↑ Lake, Eli; Carter, Sara A.; Slavin, Barbara (20 November 2009). "EXCLUSIVE: Taliban chief hides in Pakistan". The Washington Times. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  67. ↑ Declan Walsh (31 July 2015). "Afghan Taliban leader ready to end al-Qaida ties, says former trainer". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  68. ↑ Agence France-Presse, "Pakistan 'treated Taliban leader'", The Japan Times, 20 January 2011, p. 1.
  69. ↑ "Taliban leader Mullah Omar killed". Presstv.ir. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  70. ↑ "Afghan Taliban say leader Mullah Omar 'safe and sound'". Reuters. 23 May 2011.
  71. ↑ Shalizi, Hamid, Reuters, "Taliban say Mullah Omar death report false, phone hacked", Yahoo! News, 20 July 2011.
  72. ↑ "Taliban leader Mullah Omar 'sent letter to Barack Obama'". The Daily Telegraph (London). 3 February 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  73. ↑ "Amid peace bid, U.S. received purported letter from Taliban". Reuters. 3 February 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  74. ↑ "Bowe Bergdahl: Chuck Hagel praises release special forces". BBC News. 2014-06-01. Retrieved 2014-08-18.
  75. ↑ "Taliban leader's aide killed in Afghanistan". Worldbulletin News. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  76. ↑ "Taliban Supreme leader Mullah Omar has possibly died". 19 November 2014. Retrieved 2015.
  77. ↑ "Around an Invisible Leader, Taliban Power Shifts". 28 December 2014. Retrieved 2015.
  78. ↑ "Taliban leader: allegiance to ISIS 'haram'". Rudaw. 13 April 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  79. ↑ "New Taliban leader facing tension as top official quits". Yahoo News. 4 August 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  80. ↑ "Afghan intelligence says Taliban's Mullah Omar died two years ago". The Globe and Mail. 29 July 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  81. ↑ "Afghan intelligence: Taliban leader Mullah Omar dead". The Press Democrat. 29 July 2015. Archived from the original on 31 July 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  82. ↑ "Mullah Omar did not die in Pakistan, defence minister tells NA". The Express Tribune. 7 August 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  83. ↑ L. O'Donnell (29 July 2015). "The Big Story". Associated Press. Retrieved 2015-07-29.
  84. ↑ "Mullah Omar: Taliban choose deputy Mansour as successor". BBC News. 30 July 2015.
  85. ↑ "Pakistan exposed Mullah Omar’s death for its own interests: Kandahar clerics". Khaama Press. 18 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  86. ↑ "Mullah Omar: a myth of convenience". The Hindu. 20 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  87. ↑ "Why the Taliban murdered their own leader and the terrifying fallout now threatening the West". The Mirror. 21 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  88. ↑ "Taliban's Mullah Omar died of natural causes in Afghanistan, son says". Reuters. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  89. ↑ Cooper, Anderson (7 September 2006). "Will the real Mullah Omar please stand up?". CNN. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  90. ↑ Robert Marquand (10 October 2001). "The reclusive ruler who runs the Taliban". The Christian Science Monitor.
  91. ↑ Afghanistan: Taliban Preps for Bloody Assault, Newsweek. 5 March 2007

Further reading

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Mohammed Omar
Interviews
Articles

Declassified documents

Political offices
Preceded by
Burhanuddin Rabbani
as President of Afghanistan		 Emir of Afghanistan
1996–2001 		Succeeded by
Burhanuddin Rabbani
as President of Afghanistan
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, April 20, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.