Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid (

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 languages ...

/, , ; born 1990) is an Afghan Islamic scholar, cleric, and Islamist militant who is the second deputy leader of Afghanistan and the acting

defense minister A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in s ...

. He has been a deputy leader of the

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 ...

since 2016, and was additionally appointed to his ministerial role after the Taliban's victory over Western-backed forces in the 2001–2021 war. He has also been the Taliban's military chief since 2020.

Biography

Mullah Yaqoob is an ethnic

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

of the

Hotak The Hotak ( ps, هوتک) or Hotaki () is a tribe of the Ghilji confederacy of the Pashtun people. The Hotak started centuries ago as a political family. The first king to take power in Kandahar, Afghanistan, was Mirwais Hotak (1673–1715). A ...

tribe, which is part of the larger

Ghilji The Ghiljī ( ps, غلجي, ; fa, خیلجی, Xelji) also spelled Khilji, Khalji, or Ghilzai or Ghilzay (), are one of the largest Pashtun tribes. Their traditional homeland is Ghazni and Qalati Ghilji in Afghanistan but they have also sett ...

branch. He is the eldest son of the late Taliban founder Mohammed Omar. He received his religious education in various seminaries in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. When his father died in April 2013 and rumors escalated that he had been assassinated by rival

Akhtar Mansour Akhtar Mohammad Mansour (1960s21 May 2016) was the second supreme leader of the Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist political movement in Afghanistan. Succeeding the founding leader, Mullah Omar, he was the supreme leader from July 2015 to May ...

, Yaqoob denied the rumor, insisting that his father had died of natural causes.

Leadership positions

In 2016, Yaqoob was assigned by the Taliban to be in charge of the military commission in 15 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. The military commission, then headed by Ibrahim Sadr, is responsible for overseeing all military affairs of the Taliban. In addition, Yaqoob was included in the Taliban's top decision-making council, the Rehbari Shura. Mansour's death was announced on 21 May 2016 and he was replaced by

Hibatullah Akhundzada Hibatullah Akhundzada, also spelled Haibatullah Akhunzada, is an Afghan Islamic scholar, cleric, and jurist who is the supreme leader of Afghanistan. He has led the Taliban since 2016, and came to power with its victory over Western-backe ...

as the Taliban leader.

Sirajuddin Haqqani Sirajuddin Haqqani ( ps, سراج الدين حقاني, Sirāj al-Dīn Ḥaqqānī, ; aliases ''Khalifa'', and, ''Siraj Haqqani''. born December 1979) is an Afghan Islamist militant who is the first deputy leader of Afghanistan and the acti ...

, a deputy to Mansour and leader of 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 ...

, retained his position as Taliban deputy leader to Akhundzada, and Yaqoob was appointed the second deputy to the Taliban chief.

COVID-19 pandemic

On 7 May 2020 he was appointed head of the Taliban military commission, replacing Sadr and making Yaqoob the insurgents' military chief. On 29 May 2020, influential senior Taliban commander Mualana Muhammad Ali Jan Ahmed told ''

Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

'' that Yaqoob became the acting leader to the entire Taliban after Akhundzada and First Deputy Leader

became ill with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, stating "Our hero, the son of our great leader, Mullah Yaqoob, is running the entire Taliban operation in Haibatullah's absence."

Provisional Taliban government

Yaqoob is the acting defense minister of Afghanistan in the Caretaker Cabinet of the Islamic Emirate, appointed on 7 September 2021. In December 2022, Yaqoob met with UAE President

Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan ( ar, مُحَمّد بِن زَايد آل نَهيَان, Moḥamed bin Zāyed Āl Nahyān; born 11 March 1961), colloquially known by his initials as MBZ, is the third president of the United Arab Emirate ...

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

. They discussed strengthening of relations between the UAE and Afghanistan.

Views

Mohammed Yaqoob supported a negotiated settlement to the

War in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see al ...

. An avid supporter of former leader of the Taliban

, Yaqoob is pro-Saudi, has a reputation as a peace-advocating moderate, and is believed to have ties with the former government of Afghanistan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yaqoob, Mohammad 1990 births Living people Pashtun people Taliban leaders Children of national leaders Defence ministers of Afghanistan Afghan warlords