Mawlawi Mehdi Mujahid (; 1988 – 17 August 2022) was an ethnic Hazara rebel from

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 ...

who led around 200 Hazara fighters during the Balkhab uprising. He was a

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 ...

commander before rebelling against the Taliban until he was killed on 17 August 2022.

Early life

Mehdi was born in a small village called Hosh in the

Balkhab District Balkhab ( fa, بلخاب) is a district of Sar-e Pol Province, Afghanistan. The district seat lies at Balkhab, also known as Tarkhoj. Coal is mined in the area. A massive copper deposit is also located in Balkhab district of Sar-e pol province, ...

of northern Afghanistan to a religious

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...

family belonging to the Hazara ethnic group. His father, Morad Mujahid, was a member of

Hezbe Wahdat Hezb-e Wahdat-e Islami Afghanistan ( prs, حزب وحدت اسلامی افغانستان, "the Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan"), shortened to Hezbe Wahdat (, "the Unity Party"), is an Afghan political party founded in 1989. Like most contem ...

and he fought in the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Sovie ...

, which was when Morad began using "

Mujahid ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term t ...

" as a surname. Mehdi was 8 years old when the

first gained control of Afghanistan in 1996. Three years later, the Taliban captured his home district of Balkhab. He fled with his family to neighboring Iran, returning to Afghanistan after the December 2001

Afghan Interim Administration The Afghan Interim Administration (AIA), also known as the Afghan Interim Authority, was the first administration of Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime and was the highest authority of the country from 22 December 2001 until 13 July ...

had been formed. Mehdi began attending school and seemed motivated to take over the family farm. But in his early twenties, a Hazara warlord had seized their ancestral lands. In retaliation, Mehdi and friends kidnapped the warlord's son and held him hostage, only returning him after the warlord returned the lands. That night, the warlord's forces surrounded Mehdi's home, and clashes erupted as he tried to escape. Mehdi was hospitalized and then jailed for seven years for kidnapping. He became more religious and first came in contact with the

while in prison, however, he remained a

and did not convert to Sunni Islam.

Taliban career

In April 2020, the Taliban appointed Mehdi as the head of intelligence in

Bamyan Province Bamyan Province ( prs, ولایت بامیان) also spelled Bamiyan, Bāmīān or Bāmyān is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the central highlands of the Afghanistan. The terrain in Bamyan is mountainous or semi-m ...

, and the chief of the Taliban in

Sar-e Pol Province Sar-e Pol, also spelled Sari Pul (Dari/Pashto: ), is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north of the country. It borders Ghor and Bamyan to the south, Samangan to the east, Balkh and Jowzjan to the north, and Fary ...

, a move which many Taliban members and the

Haqqani network The Haqqani network is an Afghan Islamist group, built around the family of the same name, that has used asymmetric warfare in Afghanistan to fight against Soviet forces in the 1980s, and US-led NATO forces and the Islamic Republic of Afghanist ...

were opposed to for many reasons, mainly due to him being a Hazara Shia. The Taliban were accused of using Mehdi to increase their influence among Hazaras and other Shia Muslims. Mehdi was later fired from the Taliban's head of intelligence position in Bamyan after making a speech against the closure of girls' schools, and his persistent demanding of equality for Hazaras and other Shia Muslims. After being fired from his position, he left the Taliban and declared war against them.

Anti-Taliban career

In 2022, Mehdi announced that he was arming fighters loyal to him which consisted of about 200 Hazara Shias. He also built a monument dedicated to himself and

Abdul Ali Mazari ) , image = Abdul Ali Mazari.jpeg , caption = , office1 = Leader of Hezbe Wahdat , primeminister1= , term_start1 = 1989 , term_end1 = 13 March 1995 , predecessor1 = , successor1 = , office2 = , pri ...

in Balkhab, and he also turned more to his Shia Islamist and Hazara nationalist views. His forces ousted the Taliban's district governor and captured the Balkhab district. Mawlawi Ataullah, the Taliban's district governor, fled Balkhab, and Mehdi replaced him with one of his Hazara associates. Mehdi Mujahid was supported by the NRF and Hazara politicians

Muhammad Mohaqiq Haji Muhammad Mohaqiq ( prs, حاجی محمد محقق; born 26 July 1955 in Balkh) is a politician in Afghanistan, who served as a member of the Afghanistan Parliament. He is also the founder and chairman of the People's Islamic Unity Party of ...

of HWIMA and

Karim Khalili Karim Khalili ( fa, کریم خلیلی) is an Afghan politician serving as leader of the Hezb-e Wahdat Islami Afghanistan party. Most recently he was Chief of the Afghan High Peace Council from 2017 until its dissolvement in 2019. He was selec ...

, which Mehdi's father was a member of. On 13 June 2022, Mehdi Mujahid gained full control of Balkhab district and his fighters were inflicting heavy damage on the Taliban. He was initially winning the conflict although the Taliban later outnumbered his fighters and retook Balkhab.

Assassination attempt

On the morning of 25 June 2022, in the midst of the fighting between the Taliban and Mehdi's forces, Mehdi's house in the Hosh village of Balkhab district was targeted by Taliban airstrikes. Mehdi and his family survived, and none of them were injured. However, that same night, the Taliban killed Mohammad Moradi, his wife, and his daughter in Ghor Province. Moradi was a popular anti-Taliban commander. His support for Mehdi Mujahid was seen by the '' Hasht-e Subh'' as the reason for the Taliban attack on his house.

Death

Mehdi Mujahid was killed on 17 August 2022 while he was trying to escape to Iran. It is unclear how he was killed. According to the locals and some Afghan media outlets, Mujahid was caught by the Taliban in the village of Bunyad in Kohsan District where he was arrested and had his identity confirmed before being

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

. Two pictures also started circulating on social media which showed Mujahid alive and in the custody of the Taliban before being executed. One picture showed a shaved Mehdi Mujahid wearing a white turban, and another one of him without the turban and surrounded by unknown men, presumably Taliban members. However, the Taliban's

Ministry of Defense {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

had denied local reports suggesting that Mujahid was executed. Taliban officials say that Mujahid was attempting to escape to Iran when their intelligence and border security caught him by the

Afghanistan–Iran border The Afghanistan–Iran border is in length and runs from the tripoint with Turkmenistan in the north to the tripoint with Pakistan in the south. Description The border begins at the tripoint with Turkmenistan in the Harirud river before procee ...

and shot him dead. Naeemul Haq Haqqani, Taliban provincial information minister, told AFP that Mujahid was “killed after a conflict” and “rumors that he was captured alive are lies”.

Reaction

Haji Muhammad Mohaqiq, a prominent ethnic Hazara leader who had strongly supported Mehdi through his conflict with the Taliban, condemned the killing of Mehdi Mujahid. He stated that "cold-bloodedly executing a person while he was not taken from war and was an unarmed traveler is against the religious teachings and is a war crime according to the international law."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mujahid, Mehdi 1988 births 2022 deaths Hazara people Afghan warlords Afghan Shia Muslims People from Sar-e Pol Province People killed by the Taliban