Muhammad Umar Babrakzai ( 1980 – present) is the tribal chief of the

Zadran tribe The Zadran ( ps, ځدراڼ ''dzadrāṇ''; pronounced ''dzādroṇ'' in the Khost-Paktia dialect), also spelled Dzadran or Jadran, is a Pashtun tribe that inhabits the Loya Paktia region in southeastern Afghanistan (Khost, Paktia, and Paktika pro ...

and Afghan

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

Background and early life

Babrakzai is the grandson of

Babrak Khan Babrak Khan ( Pahsto: ببرک خان ځدراڼ; died ) was a Zadran chieftain who was the father of Said Akbar Babrak (assassin of the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaqat Ali Khan) and of Mazrak Zadran (a rebel leader during the Afghan tri ...

, a previous Zadran chieftain who died in 1924 or 1925, though it's unclear through what father. It is unknown who preceded Babrakzai as chieftain. It was possibly Abdulla Khan Jadran Yawan, who was chieftain as of 1969, although it's unclear if Babrakzai was Abdulla's immediate successor or if someone else was chieftain between them. At some point, Babrakzai moved to France where he received an education. Upon returning to Afghanistan, he became part of Kingdom of Afghanistan's elite. At some point after King Mohammed Zahir Shah initiated a period of democratic reforms with the 1964 constitution, Babrakzai served as

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

justice.

Tribal chief

Reagan_sitting_with_people_from_the_Afghanistan-Pakistan_region_in_February_1983

Babrakzai opposed the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

invasion of

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 ...

in 1979. The authors of ''Out of Afghanistan'' describe him as being the "prime mover" of the initial Afghan resistance, due to him forming a "national council" to map out an Afghan response. He joined the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan, became the chairman of a pro-resistance '' loya jirga'', and also organized a ''

jirga A jirga ( ps, جرګه, ''jərga'') is an assembly of leaders that makes decisions by consensus according to Pashtunwali, the Pashtun social code. It is conducted in order to settle disputes among the Pashtuns, but also by members of other ethnic ...

'' in Peshawar. In addition, Babrakzai maintained contacts with France during this period, and helped French activists to set up a International People's Tribunal in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Babrakzai continued to resist the Soviets during the rest of 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-Soviet ...

. In 1983, he attended a meeting with US president

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

. An image of this meeting later became an internet meme, where Babrakzai and other members of the meeting were falsely described as

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

officials, even though the Taliban had not been formed yet by that time. Despite his regional influence, however, Babrakzai had little control over the militants in his tribal territories, over whom Jalaluddin Haqqani gained more control. Babrakzai continues to be tribal chief as of 2019.

Family

{{Babrak Khan family tree

References

Afghan rebels Pashtun people Afghan chiefs