Back ملا عمر Arabic ملا عمر ARZ Мулла МухӀаммад ГӀумар AV Məhəmməd Ömər Azerbaijani Мухамед Амар Byelorussian মুহাম্মদ ওমর Bengali/Bangla Mohammad Omar Catalan مەلا عومەر CKB Muhammad Umar Czech Mohammed Omar Danish
Muhammad Omar | |
|---|---|
ملا عمر | |
 Omar in 1993 | |
| 1st Supreme Leader of Afghanistan | |
| In office 27 September 1996 – 13 November 2001 Disputed by Burhanuddin Rabbani (as President) | |
| Prime Minister | Mohammad Rabbani |
| Deputy | Mohammad Rabbani[1] |
| Preceded by | Burhanuddin Rabbani (as President) |
| Succeeded by | Burhanuddin Rabbani (as President) |
| Deputy | |
| Succeeded by | Akhtar Mansour |
| In office 4 April 1996[5] – 27 September 1996 | |
| Deputy | Mohammad Rabbani |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Muhammad Umar Mujahid 1960[6] Kandahar, Afghanistan[7][8][9][10] |
| Died | 23 April 2013 (aged 52–53) Zabul, Afghanistan[11] (disputed) |
| Resting place | Shinkay District, Zabul Province, Afghanistan[12] |
| Spouse | At least 3 wives |
| Relations | Abdul Manan Omari (brother) |
| Children | At least 5 (including Mullah Yaqoob) |
| Education | Darul Uloom Haqqania (possible) |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  Mujahideen (1979–1992) Hezb-i Islami Khalis (1979–1992) Taliban (1994–2013) |
| Years of service | 1979–1992 1994–2013 |
| Battles / wars | |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
| Denomination | Sunni |
| Jurisprudence | Hanafi |
| Creed | Maturidi |
| Movement | Deobandism |
Muhammad Umar Mujahid[a] (1960 – 23 April 2013), commonly known as Mullah Omar,[b] or Muhammad Omar, was an Afghan militant leader and founder and the first leader of the Taliban from 1994 until his death in 2013. During the Third Afghan Civil War, the Taliban fought the Northern Alliance and took control of most of the country, establishing its First Islamic Emirate for which Omar disputedly began to serve as Supreme Leader in 1996. Shortly after al-Qaeda carried out the September 11 attacks, the Taliban government was toppled by an American invasion of Afghanistan, prompting Omar to go into hiding. He successfully evaded capture by the American-led coalition before dying in 2013 from tuberculosis.
Born into a religious family in Kandahar, Omar was educated at local madrasas in Afghanistan. After Afghanistan was invaded by the Soviet Union in 1979, he joined the Afghan mujahideen to fight in the Soviet–Afghan War and he was trained by Amir Sultan Tarar. He served as an important rebel commander during several skirmishes, losing his right eye in an explosion. The Soviets eventually withdrew from the country in 1989 and Afghanistan's Soviet-backed Democratic Republic was toppled in 1992, triggering the Second Afghan Civil War. While initially remaining quiet and focused on continuing his studies, Omar became increasingly discontent with what he perceived as fasād in the country, ultimately prompting him to return to fighting in the Civil War.
In 1994, Omar, along with religious students in Kandahar, formed the Taliban, which emerged victorious against other Afghan factions by 1996. Omar led the Taliban to form a Sunni Islamic theocracy headed by the Supreme Council, known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which strictly enforced sharia. While ruling between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban were widely condemned for committing massacres against civilians; discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities; banning women from school and most employment; and the destruction of cultural monuments, including the Buddhas of Bamiyan, which Omar personally ordered.[15]
After al-Qaeda, which had been given sanctuary in Afghanistan by the Taliban, carried out the September 11 attacks against the United States in 2001, American president George W. Bush demanded that the Taliban extradite al-Qaeda's leader Osama bin Laden to the United States. The Taliban, under the leadership of Mullah Omar, refused to extradite him to the U.S. without concrete evidence linking him to the attacks, and they requested proof of his involvement in 9/11. The United States, however, had enough proof of him being in Afghanistan and under the Taliban's protection, and subsequently began the Global War on Terrorism and led a multinational invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, greatly bolstered by the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. By December 2001, the Taliban government had been ousted by the American-led coalition; Omar fled Kandahar, went into hiding in Zabul Province, and delegated operational control of the Taliban to his deputies. Under his command, the Taliban launched an insurgency against the new Afghan government and the coalition. Although Omar was the subject of a decade-long international manhunt, he remained in hiding for the rest of his life. He died in 2013, reportedly due to tuberculosis, which was not revealed publicly until 2015. In 2021, the Taliban deposed the Afghan government and regained power following the Fall of Kabul.
Omar remains a largely popular figure amongst the Taliban, who view him as a key freedom fighter who defended Afghanistan's Islamic principles – first against the Soviet empire and later against the Western world. Others have criticised him for his method of governance and his religious dogmatism.
- ^ Elias, Barbara. "The Taliban Biography – Documents on the Structure and Leadership of the Taliban 1996-2002" (PDF). National Security Archive. George Washington University. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
- ^ Bezhan, Frud (27 August 2020). "The Rise Of Mullah Yaqoob, The Taliban's New Military Chief". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
- ^ "'Taleban leader held' in Pakistan". BBC. 2 March 2007. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
- ^ "Mullah Omar: Taliban choose deputy Mansour as successor". BBC. 30 July 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
- ^ Weiner, Tim (7 December 2001). "Man in the News; Seizing the Prophet's Mantle: Muhammad Omar". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
- ^ "Mohammad Omar: emir of Afghanistan". www.britannica.com. 18 May 2023.
- ^ "The Taliban and Their Leaders". Defense Intelligence Agency. October 1996. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ "Afghan Taliban publish Mullah Omar biography". BBC. 5 April 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ "Mohammad Omar Emir of Afghanistan". Afghan Biographies. 7 November 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ "Mullah Omar obituary". The Guardian. 30 July 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ "How the Death of Mullah Omar Could Disrupt Progress in Afghanistan". TIME. 29 July 2015.
- ^ "Taliban Leadership Visits Mullah Omar's Grave". CROX NEWS. 31 August 2021. Archived from the original on 31 December 2021.
- ^ Abdul Salam Zaeef (2010). My Life with the Taliban.
- ^ Arnaud de Borchgrave, "Osama bin Laden – Null and Void", UPI, 14 June 2001, quoted in Wright, Looming Tower, (2006), p. 226
- ^ Anderson, Jon Lee (28 February 2022). "The Taliban Confront the Realities of Power". The New Yorker. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
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