The Mullah Dadullah Front (also known as the Dadullah Front, the Mullah Dadullah Lang Allegiance or the Mullah Dadullah Mahaz) is an insurgent group 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 ...

that has claimed responsibility for a series of bombings and assassinations centered in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

.Norland, Rod,
In Afghanistan, New Group Begins Campaign of Terror
, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', 19 May 2012.

Background

Mullah Dadullah Akhund 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 ...

military commander killed in 2007.Roggio, Bill,
Mullah Dadullah, Taliban top commander, killed in Helmand
, ''The Long War Journal'', 13 May 2007. According to Bill Roggio of the

Long War Journal ''FDD's Long War Journal'' (LWJ) is an American news website, also described as a blog, which reports on the War on terror. The site is operated by Public Multimedia Incorporated (PMI), a non-profit media organization established in 2007. PMI i ...

, Dadullah had joined the Taliban in 1994 but was held in disfavor by some in that organization for his brutality during the Afghan civil war. Following the American-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 Dadullah led Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan. U.S. Military officials stated that Dadullah made use of suicide bombings in the Taliban's fight against American,

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and Afghan government forces, and embraced the radical ideology of al-Qaeda rejected by many other Taliban leaders.Special Operations Interrogator's Report,
State of the Taliban
" published by ''

'', drafted 6 January 2012. Dadullah was killed by British special forces 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 ...

in 2007. The Dadullah Front, apparently named in his honor, began operating in Southern Afghanistan, including

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...

, Helmand, and

Uruzgan Uruzgan ( Dari), also spelled as Urozgan or Oruzgan, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. Uruzgan is located in the center of the country. The population is 436,079, and the province is mostly a tribal society. Tarinkot serves as ...

Provinces, under the leadership of Dadullah's younger brother,

Mansoor Dadullah Mullah Mansoor Dadullah (died 2015) was Mullah Dadullah's younger half-brother who succeeded him as a senior military commander of the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. He came from the Arghandab district of Kandahar province, and belonged to the ...

. The group's level of independence from the Taliban was unclear.

Operations

U.S. Military and intelligence officials at one stage claimed that the Dadullah Front was led by Mullah Abdul Qayoum Zakir, also known as Abdullah Gulam Rasoul, a former detainee of Guantanamo Bay who was released in 2007. The Dadullah Front claimed responsibility for 14 May 2012 assassination of Afghan High Peace Minister Mullah Arsala Rahmani, who was shot in traffic within Kabul.Roggio, Bill,
Mullah Dadullah Front claims assassination of Afghan High Peace Council member
, ''The Long War Journal'', 14 May 2012. Spokesman Qari Hamza, speaking to the ''Express Tribune'', stated that the Dadullah Front would "target and eliminate" all persons allowing " on-Muslimoccupation of Afghanistan."Khan, Tahir,
Killer blow to the peace process: senior afghan peace negotiator assassinated
" ''Express Tribune'', 14 May 2012. Rahmani was the second Peace minister to be killed within the year, following the assassination of

Burhanuddin Rabbani Burhānuddīn Rabbānī (Persian: ; 20 September 1940 – 20 September 2011) was an Afghanistani politician and teacher who served as President of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996 (in exile from 1996 to 2001). Born in the Badakhshan Province, Ra ...

by a suicide bomber on 20 September 2011. The Dadullah Front also claimed responsibility for that assassination. Both Rahmani and Rabbani had been responsible for organizing ongoing peace talks between the Taliban and the Karzai's government in Afghanistan. American and Afghan officials have stated that the Dadullah Front was attempting to derail peace negotiations then underway with the Taliban. Callers claiming to represent the group contacted several Afghan officials in May 2012, including

Zabul Province Zabul (Pashto/Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the south of the country. It has a population of 249,000. Zabul became an independent province from neighbouring Kandahar in 1963. Historically, it was part of the Za ...

representative Dawood Hasas, and threatened retaliation should they vote in favor of a "strategic partnership" negotiated between Hamid Karzai and U.S. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

Relations with the Taliban

Afghan intelligence officials have described the Dadullah Front as affiliated with the Taliban. Taliban spokesmen denied any relationship with the Front, and claimed that the group was a creation of the

National Directorate of Security The National Directorate of Security (NDS; ps, د ملي امنیت لوی ریاست; prs, ریاست عمومی امنیت ملی) was the national intelligence and security service of Afghanistan. The headquarters of the NDS was in Kabul, ...

. Following the August 2015 announcement that

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 ...

had succeeded the deceased

Mullah Omar Mullah Muhammad Omar (; –April 2013) was an Afghan Islamic revolutionary who founded the Taliban and served as the supreme leader of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Born into a religious family of Kandahar, Omar was educated at local '' ma ...

as leader of the Taliban, Dadullah refused to support him, leading to months of clashes between their forces in Zabul Province, resulting in the killing of Dadullah and many of his supporters in November 2015. In August 2016, the Dadullah Front announced Dadullah's nephew Mullah Emdadullah Mansoor as its new leader, and threatened to take revenge on the Taliban. The group has been linked to another Taliban splinter group,

Fidai Mahaz The Sacrifice Front, more commonly known as Fidai Mahaz (), is a Taliban splinter group and faction in the War in Afghanistan (2001–present), War in Afghanistan. It is led by Najibullah (militant leader), Mullah Najibullah, also known as Omar K ...

, but the groups are believed to be separate.

References

{{Portal, Afghanistan, Politics Taliban Afghan Islamists War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Military history of Afghanistan Rebel groups in Afghanistan 2010 in Afghanistan 2011 in Afghanistan 2012 in Afghanistan