Mullah Obaidullah the

Akhund Akhund (akhoond, akhwand, akhand or akondo) ( fa, آخوند) is a Persian title or surname for Islamic scholars, common in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Azerbaijan. Other names for similar Muslim Scholar include shei ...

( ps, ملا عبيدالله آخوند; – March 5, 2010) was the Defence Minister in the Afghan Taliban government of 1996–2001 and then an insurgent commander during the

Taliban insurgency {{Infobox military conflict , partof = the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) and the Afghanistan conflict , image = 2021 Taliban Offensive.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Map of the 2021 Taliban of ...

against the Afghan government of Hamid Karzai and the US-led NATO forces. He was captured by

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

i security forces in 2007 and died of heart disease in a Pakistani prison in 2010.

Biography

Mulla Obaidullah was born in the Panjwai district of

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 ...

in southern AfghanistanGall, Calotta: "Pakistanis catch a top member of Taliban", page 4. '' International Herald Tribune'', March 2, 2007 and was believed to be born in about 1968. He was of the Alakozai tribe. Obaidullah Akhund became the Defense Minister of Afghanistan in April 1997, and the second of two top deputies to

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 ...

, the

spiritual leader Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

of the Taliban movement. Obaidullah was seen as the "number three" man in the Taliban.'Taleban leader held' in Pakistan

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

, March 2, 2007 In late 2001 or early 2002, Obaidullah surrendered to Afghan

Northern Alliance The Northern Alliance, officially known as the United Islamic National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( prs, جبهه متحد اسلامی ملی برای نجات افغانستان ''Jabha-yi Muttahid-i Islāmi-yi Millī barāyi Nijāt ...

troops near Kandahar and was then released as part of an amnesty. He was one of the main Taliban military leaders in 2003 and was named to the Rahbari Shura. Abdul Latif Hakimi, who was captured by Pakistan in 2005, said that Obaidullah was one of two people with direct access to Mullah Omar and that Obaidullah had personally ordered insurgent attacks, including the killing of a foreign-aid official in March 2005. Obaidullah was captured by Pakistani security forces in February 2007 in

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of ...

, Pakistan.Pakistan braces for Taliban backlash after arrest

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

, March 3, 2007 He was the most senior Taliban official captured since the start of 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 ...

in 2001. The arrest coincided with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's visit to Afghanistan and Pakistan in late February 2007, but the timing was reported to be a coincidence rather than a reaction to Cheney's visit.Report: Pakistan arrests one of Taliban's top three

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

, March 2, 2007 Obaidullah was freed in November 2007 in exchange for the release of more than 200 Pakistani soldiers captured by the Taliban. He was rearrested in February 2008 and died on March 5, 2010, of heart disease inside a prison 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 c ...

, Pakistan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akhund, Obaidullah 2010 deaths Taliban leaders Afghan people imprisoned abroad Prisoners who died in Pakistani detention Pashtun people Afghan expatriates in Pakistan Year of birth uncertain Taliban government ministers of Afghanistan Defence ministers of Afghanistan