Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani or Usmani (died 19 December 2006) was a senior leader of the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

, treasurer for the organization, and close associate of Osama bin Laden and Mohammed Omar. He was involved in the demolition of the

Buddhas of Bamyan The Buddhas of Bamiyan (or Bamyan) were two 6th-century monumental statues carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley of Hazarajat region in central Afghanistan, northwest of Kabul at an elevation of . Carbon dating of the structural ...

and was considered a potential successor to Mullah Omar.Grey, Stephen
Key Taliban Leaders in Afghanistan Eliminated
ABC News, 24 July 2008.

Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...

President of Afghanistan The president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was constitutionally the head of state and head of government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021) and Commander-in-Chief of the Afghan Armed Forces. On 15 August 2021, as th ...

, once referred to him as one of the four most dangerous Taliban members still in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. Shortly after the

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officer Robert Grenier met him to offer the Taliban the opportunity to give up Osama bin Laden. In December 2006, as he was riding in a

four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer cas ...

vehicle in

Helmand Province Helmand (Pashto/Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering area. The province contains 13 ...

, Osmani was killed by a

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in a

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airstrike. He had been tracked down by a

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airplane which monitored his satellite phone. Spokesmen of the Taliban initially denied his death and claimed that the bomb had instead killed a Taliban leader called Abdul Zahir. However, several days later other top Taliban officials confirmed his death.

Mental health

While Taliban provincial governor in

Mazar-e-Sharif , official_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_label = Mazar-i-Sharif , pushpin ...

, he began seeing Afghan psychiatrist Nader Alemi, the only psychiatrist in northern Afghanistan to speak

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

, the language of most Taliban. Akhtar only kept a few appointments as he would go off on missions every three months. "I used to treat the Taliban as human beings, same as I would treat my other patients… " said Alemi. "."

References

Taliban leaders Year of birth missing 2006 deaths Deaths by airstrike People murdered in Afghanistan Place of birth missing Pashtun people Deaths by American airstrikes {{Afghanistan-bio-stub