Mullah Abdur Razzaq Akhundzada (born 1958), 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 ...

, is a former interior minister in the Afghan government who is believed to be a member 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 ...

leadership. He is rumoured to belong to the

Achakzai The Achakzai or Achekzai ( ps, اڅکزی; fa, اچکزایی) is a Pashtun tribe that resides on both sides of the Durand Line, centered on Killa Abdullah District in Pakistan with some clans as far away as Afghanistan's Kandahar Province. ...

tribe, from a family of Jalaludin village,

Spin Boldak District Spin Boldak is a district in the eastern part of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. It borders Daman District to the west, Arghistan District to the north, Qila Abdullah District of Pakistan to the east and Shorabak District to the south. The popula ...

Kandahar Province Kandahār ( ps, ; Kandahār, prs, ; ''Qandahār'') is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southern part of the country, sharing a border with Pakistan, to the south. It is surrounded by Helmand in the west, Uruzga ...

; it is also claimed that he is in fact not an Afghan, but is a Pakistani national. Razzaq traveled to Pakistan in mid-May 2000 to discuss the extradition of criminals, terrorism, drug trafficking and the

Afghanistan–Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement The Afghanistan–Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (also known as APTTA) is a bilateral trade agreement signed in 2010 by Pakistan and Afghanistan that calls for greater facilitation in the movement of goods amongst the two countries. Background ...

. Pakistan demanded the closure of 18

Afghan training camps An Afghan training camp is a camp or facility used for militant training located in the central Asian country of Afghanistan. At the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Indian intelligence officials estimated that there were over 120 traini ...

, where Pakistani militants were believed to be receiving training. The British paper ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

'' reported that Razzaq was a founding member of the Taliban; that he headed the Taliban's customs department; and was later interior minister. The May 11, 2003 article said that Razzaq was the number two in a then new Taliban military command structure.

References

Living people Taliban founders Taliban government ministers of Afghanistan Pashtun people 1958 births Afghan emigrants to Pakistan {{Afghanistan-politician-stub