View source for Mullah Omar

{{Short description|Afghan cleric who founded the Taliban (1960–2013)}}
{{Redirect|Muhammad Umar|other uses|Muhammad Umar (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = {{unbulleted list center
|{{transl|ar|[[Amir al-Mu'minin]]|italics=no<!--MOS:BADITALICS-->}}
|{{transl|fa|[[Mullah]]|italics=no}}
}}
| name                = Muhammad Omar
| native_name         = {{nobold|محمد عمر}}
| native_name_lang    = ps
| image               = Mullah Omar in 1993.webp
| caption             = Omar in 1993
| office              = [[Supreme Leader of Afghanistan]]
| primeminister       = [[Mohammad Rabbani]]
| term_start          = 27 September 1996
| term_end            = 13 November 2001<br />Disputed by [[Burhanuddin Rabbani]] (as [[President of Afghanistan|President]])
| predecessor         = [[Burhanuddin Rabbani]] (as [[President of Afghanistan|President]])
| successor           = Burhanuddin Rabbani (as President)
| deputy              = Mohammad Rabbani<ref>{{cite web |last1=Elias |first1=Barbara |title=The Taliban Biography – Documents on the Structure and Leadership of the Taliban 1996-2002 |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB295/Taliban_Structure.pdf |website=[[National Security Archive]] |publisher=[[George Washington University]] |access-date=17 June 2022}}</ref>
| term_label1         = In exile
| term_start1         = 13 November 2001
| term_end1           = 23 April 2013
| successor1          = [[Akhtar Mansour]]
| deputy1             = {{plainlist|
*[[Abdul Ghani Baradar]]<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bezhan |first1=Frud |title=The Rise Of Mullah Yaqoob, The Taliban's New Military Chief |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/the-rise-of-mullah-yaqoob-the-taliban-new-military-chief/30805362.html |access-date=22 January 2022 |work=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]] |date=27 August 2020}}</ref>
*[[Obaidullah Akhund]]<ref>{{cite news |title='Taleban leader held' in Pakistan |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6410389.stm |access-date=11 February 2022 |work=[[BBC]] |date=2 March 2007}}</ref>
*[[Akhtar Mansour]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Mullah Omar: Taliban choose deputy Mansour as successor |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33721074 |access-date=23 January 2022 |work=[[BBC]] |date=30 July 2015}}</ref>
}}
| term_label2         = In exile
| term_start2         = 4 April 1996<ref>{{cite news |last1=Weiner |first1=Tim |title=Man in the News; Seizing the Prophet's Mantle: Muhammad Omar |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/07/world/nation-challenged-leader-man-seizing-prophet-s-mantle-muhammad-omar.html |access-date=7 March 2022 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=7 December 2001}}</ref>
| term_end2           = 27 September 1996
| predecessor2        = ''Office established''
| deputy2             = Mohammad Rabbani
| birth_date          = 1960<ref name="britannica">{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mohammad-Omar|title=Mohammad Omar: emir of Afghanistan|website=www.britannica.com|date=18 May 2023 }}</ref>
| birth_place  = [[Kandahar province|Kandahar]], Afghanistan<ref>{{Cite web |date= October 1996 |title= The Taliban and Their Leaders|url= https://www.dia.mil/FOIA/FOIA-Electronic-Reading-Room/FileId/161162/ |access-date=10 July 2024 |website=[[Defense Intelligence Agency]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date= 5 April 2015 |title= Afghan Taliban publish Mullah Omar biography|url= https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32189847.amp|access-date=10 July 2024 |website=[[BBC]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date= 2022-11-07 |title= Mohammad Omar Emir of Afghanistan|url= https://www.afghan-bios.info/index.php?option=com_afghanbios&id=5322&task=view&total=5130|access-date=10 July 2024 |website= Afghan Biographies|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date= 30 July 2015 |title= Mullah Omar obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/30/mullah-omar |access-date=10 July 2024 |website=[[The Guardian]]|language=en}}</ref>
| death_date          = {{Death date|df=yes|2013|4|23}} (aged 52–53)
| death_place         = [[Zabul]], Afghanistan<ref name="Omar-death-place">{{cite magazine |title=How the Death of Mullah Omar Could Disrupt Progress in Afghanistan |url= https://time.com/3977178/mullah-omar-afghanistan-taliban-death/ |magazine=TIME |date=29 July 2015}}</ref> ''(disputed)''
| resting_place       = Shinkay District, Zabul Province, Afghanistan<ref name="Omar-grave">{{cite web |title=Taliban Leadership Visits Mullah Omar's Grave |url=https://croxnews.net/taliban-leadership-visits-mullah-omars-grave/ |website=CROX NEWS |date=31 August 2021}}</ref>
| blank1              = Ethnicity<!--Allowed by MOS:ETHNICITY in cases where it is central to the subject's identity, as is the case in Afghanistan's tribal society-->
| data1               = [[Pashtuns|Pashtun]]
| blank2              = Tribe<!--Allowed by MOS:TRIBE in cases where it is central to the subject's identity, as is the case in Afghanistan's tribal society-->
| data2               = [[Hotak]]
| blank3              = Religion<!--Allowed for religious rulers per Template:Infobox royalty/doc-->
| data3               = [[Sunni Islam]]
| blank4              = Jurisprudence
| data4               = [[Hanafi]]
| height              = {{convert|6|ft|6|in|abbr=on|order=flip}}
| death_cause         = [[Tuberculosis]]<ref name="NYT_July" /><ref name="time-2015" /><ref name="auto2" />
| spouse              = At least 3 wives
| children            = At least 5 (including [[Mullah Yaqoob]])
| relatives           = [[Abdul Manan Omari]] (stepbrother)
| allegiance          = {{flagicon image|Flag of Jihad.svg}} [[Islamic Unity of Afghanistan Mujahideen|Mujahideen]]{{small| (1979–1991)}}<br />{{flagicon image|Logo of Hezb-e Islami Khalis.svg}} [[Hezb-i Islami Khalis]]{{small| (1979–1991)}}<br />{{flag|Taliban}} {{small|(1994–2013)}}
| serviceyears        = 1979–1991<br />1994–2013
| battles             = {{tree list}}
* [[Soviet–Afghan War]]
** [[Battle of Arghandab (1987)|Battle of Arghandab]]<ref name="Abdul Salam Zaeef 2010">Abdul Salam Zaeef (2010). ''My Life with the Taliban''.</ref>
* [[Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)|First Afghan Civil War]]
** [[Battle of Jalalabad (1989)|Battle of Jalalabad]]<ref name="Borchgrave, 2001, p. 226">Arnaud de Borchgrave, "Osama bin Laden&nbsp;– Null and Void", UPI, 14 June 2001, quoted in Wright, ''Looming Tower'', (2006), p. 226</ref>
* [[Afghan Civil War (1992–1996)|Second Afghan Civil War]]
** [[Battle of Kabul (1992–1996)]]
* [[Afghan Civil War (1996–2001)|Third Afghan Civil War]]
* [[War in Afghanistan (2001-2021)]]
{{tree list/end}}
| footnotes           =
}}
[[Mullah]] '''Muhammad Omar''' ({{Langx|ps|محمد عمر|translit=Muḥammad ʿUmar}}; 1960{{snd}}23 April 2013) was an Afghan ''[[Afghan mujahideen|mujahideen]]'' commander, [[revolutionary]], and the cleric who founded the [[Taliban]]. During the [[Afghan Civil War (1996–2001)|Third Afghan Civil War]], the Taliban fought the [[Northern Alliance]] and took control of most of the country, establishing the [[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)|First Islamic Emirate]] for which Omar began to serve as [[Supreme Leader of Afghanistan|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 (2001)|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 ''[[madrasa]]s'' 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 [[Brigadier]] [[Colonel Imam|Sultan Amir Tarar]] aka Imam Tarar. He served as an important military general 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 of Afghanistan|Democratic Republic]] was toppled in 1992, triggering the [[Afghan Civil War (1992–1996)|Afghan Civil War of 1992–1996]]. While initially remaining quiet and focused on continuing his studies, Omar became increasingly discontent with what he perceived as [[Fasad|''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 [[Islamic state|Sunni Islamic theocracy]] headed by the [[Leadership Council of Afghanistan|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; [[Treatment of women by the Taliban|banning women from school and most employment]]; and the destruction of cultural monuments, including the [[Buddhas of Bamiyan]], which Omar personally ordered.<ref name="Anderson-2-2022">{{cite magazine |last1=Anderson |first1=Jon Lee |title=The Taliban Confront the Realities of Power |magazine=The New Yorker |date=28 February 2022 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/02/28/the-taliban-confront-the-realities-of-power-afghanistan |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref>
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. When the Taliban refused, the United States began the [[War on terror|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 [[Taliban insurgency|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 (2021)|Fall of Kabul]].
Omar remains a largely popular figure amongst the Taliban, who view him as a key freedom fighter who defended [[Islam in Afghanistan|Afghanistan's Islamic principles]] — first against the [[Soviet empire]] and later against the [[Western world]]. Others have criticized him for his repressive government and his religious dogmatism.
== Early life ==
[[File:Mohammed Omar in 1978.jpg|thumb|left|Omar as an 18-year-old [[Hafiz (Quran)|''hafiz'']] student, 1978<ref>{{cite news |title=Rare new picture of Taliban founder Mullah Omar surfaces |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/rare-new-picture-of-taliban-founder-mullah-omar-surfaces/articleshow/49326405.cms |access-date=26 June 2022 |work=[[Agence France-Presse]] |agency=[[The Economic Times]] |date=12 October 2015}}</ref>|upright=0.75]]
Muhammed Omar was born in 1960 into a poor and large [[Pashtun]] family in the village of ''Chah-i-Himmat'' in [[Khakrez District|Khakrez]] of [[Kandahar Province|Kandahar]], [[Kingdom of Afghanistan]].<ref name="BBC_20150405">{{cite news|title=Afghan Taliban publish Mullah Omar biography |url= https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32189847 |work=[[BBC News]]|date=5 April 2015 |access-date=26 September 2021}}</ref><ref name="tel1" /> He came from a line of Islamic scholars and teachers.<ref name="Mutmaen">{{cite book |author=Abdul Hai Mutma'in |year=2019 |title=Taliban: A Critical History from Within |location=Berlin |publisher=First Draft Publishing |isbn=978-3-944214-26-9}}</ref> At {{convert|6|ft|6|in|abbr=on|order=flip}} tall, he was the tallest boy in his family.<ref name="conflict" /><ref name="Ismail Khan 1996, p. 226">Ismail Khan, "Mojaddedi Opposes Elevation of Taliban's Omar", ''Islamabad the News'', 6 April 1996, quoted in Wright, ''Looming Tower'', (2006), p. 226</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Robert Marquand |date=10 October 2001 |title=The reclusive ruler who runs the Taliban |work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1010/p1s4-wosc.html}}</ref>
His father was [[Mawlawi (Islamic title)|Mawlawi]] Ghulam Nabi,<ref name="BBC_20150405" /> his grandfather Mawlawi Muhammad Rasool, and his great-grandfather Mawlawi Baz Muhammad.<ref name="Mutmaen" /> They were of the Tomzi clan of the [[Hotak]] tribe,<ref name="BBC_20150405" /><ref name="Mutmaen" /> which is part of the larger [[Ghilji|Ghilzai]] tribal confederation of the Pashtuns.<ref name="Rashid">[[Ahmed Rashid|Rashid]], ''Taliban'', (2001)</ref> His father, born in Khakrez District,<ref name="Mutmaen" /> was a poor, landless itinerant teacher who taught the [[Quran]] to village boys and received [[alms]] from their families.<ref name="coll">{{cite news |last1=Coll|first1=Steve|title=Looking For Mullah Omar |magazine=The New Yorker|date=23 January 2012 |url= https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/01/23/looking-for-mullah-omar |access-date=26 September 2021}}</ref> He died when Omar was three years old, according to Omar's own words,<ref name="Aljazeera_interview" /> or five years old, according to the Taliban biography.<ref name="BBC_20150405" /> Thereafter Omar was raised by his uncles.<ref name="Aljazeera_interview">{{cite interview |subject=Mohammed Omar |title=نص كلمة زعيم طالبان رداً على أسئلة الجزيرة نت / Naṣṣ kalimat za'īm Ṭālibān raddan 'alá as'alat al-Jazīrah Nit |trans-title=Text of Taliban chief's words in response to questions from Aljazeera.net |url= http://www.aljazeera.net/news/international/2001/1/11/نص-كلمة-زعيم-طالبان-رداً-على-أسئلة-الجزيرة-نت |website=aljazeera.net|language=ar|date=11 January 2001}} [https://archive.org/download/Skieli11/mull_omar.mp3 Audio link] (in Pashto with Arabic voiceover).</ref> One of his father's brothers, Maulawi Muzafer, married Omar's widowed mother,<ref name="Gall_20020522" /> as was often done in rural Afghanistan.<ref name="coll" />
The family moved to the village of Dehwanawark, several miles from the town of [[Deh Rawood]],<ref name="Gall_20020522">{{cite news|last1=Gall|first1=Carlotta|title=Seeking Mullah Omar in a land of secrets |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/22/international/asia/22AFGH.html |work=The New York Times|date=22 May 2002}}</ref> in the poor [[Deh Rawood District]] in [[Uruzgan Province]], where the uncle was a religious teacher.<ref name="coll" /> According to former [[President of Afghanistan|Afghan President]] [[Hamid Karzai]], "Omar's father was a local religious leader, but the family was poor and had absolutely no political links in Kandahar or Kabul. They were essentially lower middle class Afghans and were definitely not members of the elite."{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}
Omar studied at a religious school or [[madrasa]] run by his uncle.<ref>{{cite news |last=Watson |first=Ivan |date=6 April 2015 |title=Mullah Omar is still the leader of the Taliban, new biography claims |newspaper=[[CNN]] |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/06/asia/taliban-mullah-omar-biography/index.html |access-date=26 September 2021}}</ref> According to [[Anand Gopal|Gopal]] and Strick van Linschoten, all of his religious education was in Afghan hujras, which are small religious schools annexed to village mosques.<ref name="Gopal_2017">{{cite web |last1=Gopal |first1=Anand |author-link1=Anand Gopal |last2=Strick van Linschoten |first2=Alex |date=June 2017 |title=Ideology in the Afghan Taleban |url=https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/201705-AGopal-ASvLinschoten-TB-Ideology.pdf |access-date=26 September 2021 |publisher=Afghanistan Analysts Network |pages=10, 31, 34}}</ref> He completed his primary and secondary religious education, then began higher religious studies at 18.<ref name="Mutmaen" /> His studies were interrupted<ref>{{cite book |last=Rashid |first=Ahmed |title=Taliban: The Power of Militant Islam in Afghanistan and Beyond |date=2010 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-84885-446-8 |edition=Rev. |page=24 |author-link=Ahmed Rashid |orig-date=}}</ref> before he completed them and he did not properly earn the title "Mullah".<ref name="Gopal_2017" /> Later in life he was given an honorary degree by the [[Jamia Uloom-ul-Islamia]] seminary in [[Karachi]], [[Pakistan]], but he never studied there,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gunaratna |first1=Rohan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QD9qPQznBXYC&pg=PA41 |title=Pakistan: Terrorism Ground Zero |last2=Iqbal |first2=Khuram |date=2012 |publisher=Reaktion Books |isbn=978-1-78023-009-2 |page=41}}</ref> contrary to some reports. He was also given an honorary doctorate by [[Darul Uloom Haqqania]] in northwestern Pakistan, where numerous other senior [[Taliban]] leaders studied.<ref>Mark Magnier (30 May 2009). [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-may-30-fg-madrasa30-story.html Pakistan religious schools get scrutiny], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''.</ref> Some sources have claimed that he studied there, but its leader [[Sami-ul-Haq]] said that he did not know of Omar until 1994.<ref>[[Ahmed Rashid|Rashid, Ahmed]] (2010). ''Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia.'' 2nd ed. (New Haven: Yale University Press). p. 91.</ref>
Much of Omar's early and personal life remains either secret or is the subject of conflicting reports.<ref name="tel1" /><ref name="BBC_20150405" /> In April 2015, during the time when his death was being kept secret, the Taliban published a biography of Omar to mark his "19th year as their supreme leader," when in fact he had already died on 23 April 2013.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}
== Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989) ==
{{Main|Soviet–Afghan War|Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)}}
After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Omar joined the [[Afghan mujahideen|mujahideen]] in Deh Rawood to fight the Soviets.<ref name=Mutmaen /> In 1983 he moved with mujahideen friends to [[Maywand District]] in Kandahar Province and fought under Faizullah Akhundzada, the commander of a group affiliated with [[Islamic and National Revolution Movement of Afghanistan|Harakat-i-Inqilab-i-Islami]] (Islamic and National Revolution Movement).<ref name=Mutmaen /> [[Abdul Ghani Baradar]] was another from Deh Rawood who was in the group.<ref name=Gopal_2017_p18>{{cite web |url= https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/201705-AGopal-ASvLinschoten-TB-Ideology.pdf |title=Ideology in the Afghan Taleban |first1=Anand |last1=Gopal |author-link1=Anand Gopal |first2=Alex |last2=Strick van Linschoten |date=June 2017 |publisher=Afghanistan Analysts Network |page=18 |access-date=26 September 2021}}</ref> Omar fought in the Maiwand, [[Zhari District|Zhari]], [[Panjwayi District|Panjwai]] and [[Dand District|Dand]] districts and was an expert in using [[rocket-propelled grenade]]s against [[tank]]s.<ref name=Mutmaen /> In the last years of the war, some mujahideen groups split up, and Omar and his friends left Faizullah Akhundzada's group. They formed a new group under Omar's leadership, based at Aday, in the [[Singesar]] area, then in the Panjwayi District and now in Zhari District, and became registered with Harakat-i-Inqilab-i-Islami as an affiliated group.<ref name=Mutmaen /> Omar was wounded four times. [[Abdul Salam Zaeef]] has said he was present when exploding shrapnel destroyed Omar's right eye at Singesar during the 1987 [[Battle of Arghandab (1987)|Battle of Arghandab]].<ref name="Abdul Salam Zaeef 2010" /> Other sources place this event in 1986<ref>Williams, Paul L., "Al Qaeda: Brotherhood of Terror", 2002</ref> or in the 1989 [[Civil war in Afghanistan (1989–1992)#Battle of Jalalabad|Battle of Jalalabad]].<ref name="Borchgrave, 2001, p. 226" /> Omar went to a hospital in [[Quetta]], Pakistan, for treatment to his eye wound.<ref name=Dam_Zomia /> According to former Taliban official Abdul Hai Mutmaen (or Mutma'in), this was the only time that Omar ever went to Pakistan, and that he returned after treatment.<ref name=Mutmaen /> According to Dutch journalist [[Bette Dam]], in research published in 2019, he went to Pakistan on one other occasion during the war, to fetch weapons following a dispute within his mujahideen group.<ref name=Dam_Zomia /> Mutmaen denies that Omar went there for weapons, but acknowledges that a few members of Omar's family claim he visited Pakistan four times during the war – once for the injury, then to register his group, and two visits to injured friends.<ref name=Mutmaen />
=== Soviet withdrawal and fight against the Democratic Republic ===
The [[Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan|Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan]] in 1989. According to [[Ahmed Rashid]], Omar joined the mujahideen group [[Hezb-i Islami Khalis]] and fought under the command of Nek Mohammed against [[Mohammad Najibullah]]'s [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|communist regime]] between 1989 and 1992.<ref name="Rashid" />
After Najibullah's government collapsed in 1992, Omar and a group of mujahideen turned their base near Haji Ibrahim Mosque in Gheshano village, in the Singesar area, into a madrassa.<ref name=Mutmaen /><ref name=Zaeef_52>{{cite book |author=Abdul Salam Zaeef |date=2010 |editor-last1=Strick van Linschoten |editor-first1=Alex |editor-last2=Kuehn |editor-first2=Felix |title=My Life With the Taliban |location=London |publisher=Hurst |page=52}}</ref> As well as teaching there, Omar resumed his own studies that had been interrupted by the war.<ref name=Mutmaen /> Unlike many Afghan mujaheddin, Omar spoke Arabic.<ref>interview with Farraj Ismail, by Lawrence Wright in ''Looming Tower'', (2006), p.226</ref> He was devoted to the lectures of Sheikh [[Abdullah Azzam]].<ref>Wright, ''Looming Tower'', (2006), p. 226</ref>
== Forming the Taliban (1994) ==
{{Main|Afghan Civil War (1992–1996)}}
After Najibullah's regime ended, the country fell into chaos as various mujahideen factions fought for control. According to one legend, Omar had a dream in 1994 in which a woman told him: "We need your help; you must rise. You must end the chaos. God will help you."<ref name="Dexter Filkins 2008 p. 30">Dexter Filkins, ''The Forever War'' (New York: Vintage Books/Random House, 2009; orig. ed. 2008), p.30.</ref> Omar started his movement with less than 50 armed [[Madrasa|madrassah]] students who were simply known as the Taliban (Pashtun for 'students'). His recruits came from madrassas located in Afghanistan and the [[Afghan refugees|Afghan refugee]] camps which were located across the border in Pakistan. They fought against the rampant corruption which had emerged during the [[Civil war in Afghanistan (1992–96)|civil war]] period and were initially welcomed by Afghans who were weary of [[warlord]] rule. Apparently, Omar became sickened by the abusive raping of children by warlords and turned against their authority in the mountainous country of Afghanistan from 1994 onwards.<ref name=Telegraph_obit>{{cite news |title=Mullah Mohammad Omar, Taliban leader – obituary |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11773778/Mullah-Mohammad-Omar-Taliban-leader-obituary.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11773778/Mullah-Mohammad-Omar-Taliban-leader-obituary.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |date=31 July 2015 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |page=35 |access-date=26 September 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="Princeton_Ency">{{cite book |last1=Zaman |first1=Muhammad Qasim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q1I0pcrFFSUC&q=%22Head+of+the+Supreme+Council%22+Afghanistan+Omar&pg=PA379 |title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought |last2=Stewart |first2=Devin J. |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-691-13484-0 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Capon |first=Felicity |date=2 August 2015 |title=Why the New Taliban Leader Could Be a Disaster for Peace in Afghanistan |website=Newsweek |url=https://www.newsweek.com/afgan-taliban-peace-talksmullah-omarmullah-akhtar-mansoortalibantaliban-peace-601700 |access-date=13 February 2016}}</ref><ref name="Gunaratna">{{cite book |last1=Gunaratna |first1=Rohan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DOk1CgAAQBAJ&q=%22Supreme+Council%22+Taliban+Afghanistan+1997&pg=PA117 |title=Afghanistan after the Western Drawdown |last2=Woodall |first2=Douglas |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-4422-4506-8 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
Two influential anti-Soviet political leaders who were connected with [[Peshawar]] during this era were [[Mohammad Yunus Khalis]] and [[Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi]]; both exerted a considerable influence over the [[Taliban]], particularly in the southern parts of the country, including [[Kandahar]]. Many of those who later formed the core of the Taliban, including Omar, fought under the command of factions that were loyal to Nabi Mohammadi. These factions had helped spread ''[[madrasa]]'', attended by many of the Kandahar Taliban, throughout the southern regions of Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zellen |first1=Barry Scott |title=Culture, Conflict, and Counterinsurgency |date=2014 |publisher=Stanford University Press |page=145 |isbn=978-0-8047-8921-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B9ZZAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA145 |access-date=25 July 2019}}</ref>
The practice of [[bacha bazi]] by warlords was one of the key factors in Omar mobilizing the Taliban.<ref>{{cite web| title =Bacha Bazi: An Afghan Tragedy| url =https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/10/28/bacha-bazi-an-afghan-tragedy| date = October 2013}}</ref> Reportedly, in early 1994, Omar led 30 men armed with 16 rifles to free two young girls who had been kidnapped and raped by a warlord, hanging him from a tank gun barrel.<ref>{{cite AV media | people=National Geographic |year=2007 | title=Inside The Taliban | medium=Documentary | location=Afghanistan | work=National Geographic | url=http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/episodes/inside-the-taliban/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007043712/http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/episodes/inside-the-taliban/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=7 October 2012 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> Another instance arose when in 1994, a few months before the Taliban took control of Kandahar, two militia commanders confronted each other over a young boy whom they both wanted to [[sodomy|sodomize]]. In the ensuing fight, Omar's group freed the boy; appeals soon flooded in for Omar to intercede in other disputes.{{Citation needed|date=May 2017}} His movement gained momentum through the year and he quickly gathered recruits from Islamic schools totaling 12,000 by the year's end with some Pakistani volunteers. By November 1994, Omar's movement managed to capture the whole of the Kandahar Province and then captured the [[Herat Province]] in September 1995.<ref name="Goodson 2001 p. 107">Goodson (2001) p. 107</ref> Some accounts estimated that by the spring of 1995 he had already taken 12 of the 31 provinces in Afghanistan.<ref name=Telegraph_obit />
== Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001) ==
{{Main|Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)}}
=== Leadership ===
[[File:Mullah Omar reveals the Prophet's cloak.jpg|thumb|A still from a 1996 video taken secretly by BBC Newsnight. It purports to show Omar (left) presenting the [[cloak of Muhammad]] to his troops in Kandahar, before their successful assault on Kabul.]]
[[File:Mullah Mohammed Omar's 1998-06-15 letter to all Taliban.jpg|thumb|The June 15, 1998 letter from Mullah Omar to "all Taliban members young and old", complaining that his orders are not being followed. The letter was found in an [[al-Qaeda safe house]] in Kabul.]]
On 4 April 1996, supporters of Omar bestowed the title ''[[Amir al-Mu'minin]]'' (أمير المؤمنين, {{Literal translation|Commander of the Faithful}}) on him,<ref>{{cite news |author=Tim Weiner | title = Seizing the Prophet's Mantle: Muhammad Omar| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/07/international/asia/07MULL.html |newspaper=The New York Times | date = 7 December 2001| access-date =1 November 2014}}</ref> after he donned [[Cloak of Muhammad|a cloak]] which was alleged to be that of [[Muhammad in Islam|Muhammad]], locked in a series of chests and held inside the [[Khirqa Sharif|Shrine of the Cloak]] in the city of Kandahar. Legend decreed that whoever could retrieve the cloak from the chest would be the great Leader of the Muslims, or the "''Amir al-Mu'minin''{{-"}}.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/12/19/MN37470.DTL |title=Kandahar residents feel betrayed |first=Patrick |last=Healy |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=19 December 2001}}</ref>
In September 1996, [[Kabul]] fell to Omar and his followers.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} The civil war continued in the northeast corner of the country, near [[Tajikistan]]. In October 1997 the nation was named the [[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)|Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan]] and recognized by [[Pakistan]], [[Saudi Arabia]] and the [[United Arab Emirates]]. Described as a "reclusive, pious and frugal" leader,<ref name="conflict">Griffiths, John C. ''Afghanistan: A History of Conflict'', 1981. Second Revision, 2001.</ref> Omar rarely left his residence in the city of [[Kandahar]], and he only visited Kabul twice between 1996 and 2001 during his tenure as ruler of Afghanistan. In November 2001, during a radio interview with the BBC, Omar stated: "All Taliban are moderate. There are two things: extremism ['ifraat', or doing something to excess] and conservatism ['tafreet', or doing something insufficiently]. So in that sense, we are all moderates – taking the middle path."<ref name="BBC1657368" /><ref name="Malashenko">{{Cite news |last=Malashenko |first=Alexey |date=11 August 2015 |title=Where Will the New Taliban Leader Lead His People? |publisher=Russian International Affairs Council |url=https://carnegiemoscow.org/2015/08/11/where-will-new-taliban-leader-lead-his-people/ielb |access-date=12 September 2021 |via=Carnegie Moscow Center}}</ref><ref name="Waraich">{{cite web |last=Waraich |first=Omar |date=30 July 2015 |title=Mullah Mohammed Omar: Co-founder and leader of the Taliban who fought the Soviets before presiding over a brutal Afghan regime |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/mullah-mohammed-omar-co-founder-and-leader-taliban-who-fought-soviets-presiding-over-brutal-afghan-regime-10428546.html |access-date=17 August 2021 |website=[[The Independent]]}}</ref> During his tenure as Afghanistan's ruler, Omar seldom left the city of [[Kandahar]], where he lived in a large house reportedly built for him by [[Osama bin Laden]], the [[Saudis|Saudi]] militant who was the founder of [[al-Qaeda]].<ref name="conflict" /> {{sfn|Aggarwal|2016}}
Omar had a complicated relationship with Osama bin Laden. According to Pakistani journalist [[Rahimullah Yusufzai]], Omar stated in the late 1990s, "We have told Osama [Bin Laden] not to use Afghan soil to carry out political activities as it creates unnecessary confusion about Taliban objectives."<ref>{{cite news |author=Robert Marquand | title = The reclusive ruler who runs the Taliban |work=The Christian Science Monitor | url = http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1010/p1s4-wosc.html| date = 10 October 2001| access-date = 10 September 2014}}</ref> Bin Laden was a challenge for Omar: he was widely seen as a defender of the faith, had deep pockets, and if he were to censure the Taliban, the movement would likely end. However, Omar did not want bin Laden spreading a message of jihad. Omar summoned bin Laden to meet him in 1996 after bin Laden's declaration of jihad against the United States the same year. He asked bin Laden to stop talking about the jihad, but as a matter of Pashtun tribal custom did not outright forbid him, as it would be deeply insulting to a guest. Bin Laden chose to ignore Omar. The high stature of bin Laden and his importance in keeping the Taliban in power were further evidenced by Omar visiting bin Laden as a guest, a sign of deference and respect. After the [[1998 United States embassy bombings]], the US launched cruise missiles against al-Qaeda training camps and sought bin Laden. This inadvertently created more sympathy for bin Laden in Afghanistan. Omar did not hand bin Laden over, citing [[Pashtunwali]] tribal customs that require a host to protect guests, and that bin Laden was a guest of Afghanistan. Privately, Omar felt that if he bowed to the US by turning over bin Laden, the US would try to further influence Afghanistan and attempt to meddle in its religious matters. He may have also feared retaliation or withdrawal of support from the Saudi or Pakistani governments should he turn over bin Laden. In 2000, Omar ordered bin Laden to not attack the United States, after advisors warned him that bin Laden might be planning to do so. Omar suggested to the US that bin Laden be turned over to an international Islamic court, or simply exiled, but the US turned both suggestions down.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last=Malkasian|first=Carter|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1240264784|title=The American war in Afghanistan : a history|date=2021|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-755077-9|location=New York|oclc=1240264784}}</ref>{{Rp|47–50}}
Omar was also "Head of the [[Leadership Council of Afghanistan|Supreme Council]] of Afghanistan".<ref name=Waraich /><ref name="Malashenko" /><ref name=Princeton_Ency /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://europe.newsweek.com/why-new-taliban-leader-could-be-disaster-peace-afghanistan-331052|title = Why the New Taliban Leader Could be a Disaster for Peace in Afghanistan|date = 2 August 2015}}</ref> The Supreme Council was initially established at Kandahar in 1994.<ref name=Gunaratna />
According to a 2001 United Nations report, the Taliban committed systematic massacres against civilians between 1996 and 2001 while trying to consolidate control over northern and western Afghanistan. The report said that such mass killings were ordered or approved by Omar himself and that bin Laden's [[055 Brigade]], made up of Arab fighters, was involved in these massacres.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gargan |first=Edward A |date=October 2001 |title=Taliban massacres outlined for UN |work=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2001/10/12/taliban-massacres-outlined-for-un/}}</ref>
=== Demolition of the Buddhas of Bamiyan ===
{{Main|Buddhas of Bamiyan}}
[[File:Buddha of Bamiyan.jpg|150px|thumb|Omar ordered the destruction of the [[Buddhas of Bamiyan]] (''pictured in 1976'') in March 2001, receiving international condemnation.]]
In July 1999, Mohammed Omar issued a decree in favor of the preservation of the Bamiyan Buddha statues. Because Afghanistan's Buddhist population no longer exists, so the statues are no longer worshiped, he added: "The government considers the Bamiyan statues as an example of a potential major source of income for Afghanistan from international visitors. The Taliban states that Bamiyan shall not be destroyed but protected."<ref>{{cite news |last=Harding |first=Luke |date=3 March 2001 |title=How the Buddha got his wounds |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/mar/03/books.guardianreview2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060228113747/http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0%2C4273%2C4145138%2C00.html |archive-date=28 February 2006 |access-date=23 March 2008 |location=London |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=They were destroyed by the Taliban. But now the giant Buddha statues of Bamiyan have returned with 3-D light projection |url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-06-11/they-were-destroyed-taliban-now-giant-buddha-statues-bamiyan-have-returned-3-d}}</ref>
In early 2000, local Taliban authorities asked for UN assistance to rebuild drainage ditches around tops of the alcoves where the Buddhas were set.<ref>Semple, Michael [http://aan-afghanistan.com/index.asp?id=1538 Why the Buddhas of Bamian were destroyed] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707072441/http://aan-afghanistan.com/index.asp?id=1538 |date=7 July 2011 }}, [[Afghanistan Analysts Network]] 2 March 2011</ref>
In March 2001, the Bamiyan Buddha statues were destroyed by the Taliban under an edict issued from Omar, stating: "all the statues around Afghanistan must be destroyed."<ref>{{cite news|author=Luke Harding |url=https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4145138,00.html |title=How the Buddha got his wounds|date=3 March 2001|work=The Guardian|access-date=27 August 2010 |location=London}}</ref> This prompted an international outcry.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bearak |first=Barry |title=Over World Protests, Taliban Are Destroying Ancient Buddhas |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/04/world/over-world-protests-taliban-are-destroying-ancient-buddhas.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=4 March 2001 |access-date=9 March 2020}}</ref> Information and Culture Minister Qadratullah Jamal told [[Associated Press]] of a decision by 400 religious clerics from across Afghanistan declaring the Buddhist statues against the tenets of Islam. "They came out with a consensus that the statues were against Islam," said Jamal. A statement issued by the [[Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs|Ministry of Religious Affairs]] of the Taliban regime justified the destruction as being in accordance with Islamic law.<ref>{{cite news |date=12 March 2001 |title=Destruction of Giant Buddhas Confirmed |agency=[[Agence France-Presse]] |url=http://www.beliefnet.com/story/70/story_7096_1.html |access-date=6 January 2008}}</ref> The then Taliban ambassador to Pakistan [[Abdul Salam Zaeef]] held that the destruction of the Buddhas was finally ordered by Abdul Wali, the [[Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Afghanistan)|Minister for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice]].<ref>Zaeef p.126</ref>
Omar explained why he ordered the statues to be destroyed in an interview:
{{blockquote|I did not want to destroy the Bamiyan Buddha. In fact, some foreigners came to me and said they would like to conduct the repair work of the Bamiyan Buddha that had been slightly damaged due to rains. This shocked me. I thought, these callous people have no regard for thousands of living human beings – the Afghans who are dying of hunger, but they are so concerned about non-living objects like the Buddha. This was extremely deplorable. That is why I ordered its destruction. Had they come for humanitarian work, I would have never ordered the Buddha's destruction.<ref>{{cite news|author=Mohammad Shehzad |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/apr/12inter.htm |title=The Rediff Interview/Mullah Omar|date=3 March 2001|work=The Rediff|access-date=27 October 2010 |location=Kabul}}</ref>}}
=== Opium production ===
{{Main|Opium production in Afghanistan}}
[[File:Afghanistan opium poppy cultivation 1994-2007b.PNG|thumb|right|350px|Afghanistan opium poppy cultivation, 1994–2007 (hectares). Before the [[United States invasion of Afghanistan|US invasion of Afghanistan]] in 2001, opium production was almost entirely eradicated (99%) by the Taliban.<ref name="drugpolicy2005">{{cite journal |last1=Farrell |first1=Graham |last2=Thorne |first2=John |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/28576871 |title=Where Have All the Flowers Gone?: Evaluation of the Taliban Crackdown Against Opium Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan |date=March 2005 |journal=[[International Journal of Drug Policy]] |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=81–91 |doi=10.1016/j.drugpo.2004.07.007 |via=[[ResearchGate]] |access-date=8 July 2020}}</ref><ref name="Maziyar2019">{{cite book |last=Ghiabi |first=Maziyar |chapter=Crisis as an Idiom for Reforms |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HoOWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA101 |year=2019 |title=Drugs Politics: Managing Disorder in the Islamic Republic of Iran |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=101–102 |isbn=978-1-108-47545-7 |lccn=2019001098 |access-date=8 July 2020}}</ref>]]
Between 1996 and 1999, the Taliban controlled 96% of Afghanistan's poppy fields and made opium its largest source of taxation. Taxes on opium exports was the primary source of income for the Taliban during its rule and subsequent insurgency after 2001.<ref name="Chouvy1">{{Cite book |last=Chouvy |first=Pierre-Arnaud |title=Opium: uncovering the politics of the poppy |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2010 |pages=52ff}}</ref> In July 2000, Taliban leader Mohammed Omar, in an effort to eradicate [[heroin]] production in Afghanistan, declared that growing poppies was un-Islamic, resulting in one of the world's most successful anti-drug campaigns.<ref name="drugpolicy2005" /><ref name="Maziyar2019" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Jonathan |title=Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present |publisher=Reaktion Books |year=2019 |isbn=9781789140101 |pages=188 |language=English}}</ref> The Taliban enforced a ban on poppy farming via threats, forced eradication, and public punishment of transgressors. The result was a 99% reduction in the area of opium poppy farming in Taliban-controlled areas, roughly three-quarters of the world's supply of heroin at the time.<ref name="drugpolicy2005" /><ref name="Maziyar2019" /> The ban was effective only briefly due to the deposition of the [[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)|Taliban]] in 2001.{{sfn|Lee|2019|p=678}}{{sfn|Lee|2019|p=679}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last1=Padshah |first1=Safiullah |last2=Gibbons-Neff |first2=Thomas |date=2022-04-03 |title=Taliban Outlaw Opium Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/03/world/asia/taliban-opium-poppy-afghanistan.html |access-date=2022-04-03 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
=== September 11 attacks by al-Qaeda ===
{{Main|September 11 attacks|Al-Qaeda}}
Following the [[September 11 attacks]] on the United States carried out by al-Qaeda,<ref name="rjfEnglish">{{cite web |title=Wanted Information leading to the location of Mullah Omar Up to $10 Million Reward |url=http://www.rewardsforjustice.net/english/index.cfm?page=MullahOmar |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061005050343/http://www.rewardsforjustice.net/english/index.cfm?page=MullahOmar |archive-date=5 October 2006 |publisher=[[Rewards for Justice Program]], [[United States Department of State|US Department of State]]}}</ref> the United States under the Bush administration issued an ultimatum to [[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)|Afghanistan]] to hand over [[Osama bin Laden]] and other high ranking al-Qaeda officials and shut down all al-Qaeda training camps within the country. In an interview with [[Voice of America]], Omar was asked if he would give up [[Osama bin Laden]]. Omar replied, "No. We cannot do that. If we did, it means we are not Muslims, that Islam is finished. If we were afraid of attack, we could have surrendered him the last time we were threatened."<ref name="Peter Bergen">{{cite news|author=Peter Bergen|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/29/opinions/bergen-mullah-omar/|title=The man who wouldn't hand over bin Laden to the U.S.|date=21 August 2015|publisher=CNN|access-date=12 September 2016}}</ref> Omar explained his position to high-ranking Taliban officials:
{{blockquote|Islam says that when a Muslim asks for shelter, give the shelter and never hand him over to enemy. And our [[Pashtunwali|Afghan tradition]] says that, even if your enemy asks for shelter, forgive him and give him shelter. Osama has helped the jihad in Afghanistan, he was with us in bad days and I am not going to give him to anyone.<ref name="Peter Bergen" />}}
Omar was adamant that bin Laden was innocent of planning the 9/11 attacks despite the accusations directed against him. Nonetheless, high-ranking Taliban officials attempted to persuade Omar to hand bin Laden over and made offers to the United States through its contacts with Pakistan. The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan [[Abdul Salam Zaeef]] said at a news conference in [[Islamabad]] that "our position in this regard is that if the Americans have evidence, they should produce it." If they could prove their allegations, he said, "we are ready for a trial of Osama bin Laden."<ref name="John Burns & Christopher Wren">{{cite news|author=John Burns & Christopher Wren|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/21/international/21CND-PAK.html|title=Without Evidence, the Taliban Refuses to Turn Over bin Laden|date=21 September 2001|work=The New York Times|access-date=12 September 2016}}</ref> The Taliban foreign minister [[Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil]] also attempted to negotiate, offering the Americans the proposal of setting up a three-nation court under the supervision of the [[Organisation of Islamic Cooperation|Organisation of the Islamic Conference]] as it was a "neutral organization" or having bin Laden tried by an Islamic council in Afghanistan.<ref name="Mujib Mashal 2011">{{cite news|author=Mujib Mashal|url=http://ww.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2011/09/20119115334167663.html|title=Taliban 'offered bin Laden trial before 9/11'|year=2011|publisher=Al Jazeera|access-date=12 September 2016}}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Muttawakil said "the US showed no interest in it."<ref name="Mujib Mashal 2011" /> The Taliban Prime Minister [[Abdul Kabir]] stated that if evidence was provided, "we would be ready to hand him over to a third country".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/oct/14/afghanistan.terrorism5|title=Bush rejects Taliban offer to hand Bin Laden over |year=2011|work=The Guardian|access-date=15 October 2001}}</ref> Part of the reluctance to hand bin Laden over stemmed from Omar's own miscalculations. Omar thought there was "less than a 10 percent" chance that the US would do anything beyond make threats.<ref name=":5" />{{Rp|65–66}}
The Supreme Council of the Islamic Clergy, a council of around 1,000 clerics, convened in [[Kabul]] in late September 2001 and issued a decree against the United States and its threats of militarily invading Afghanistan. They also recommended that Osama bin Laden be asked to leave Afghanistan of his own free will to "avoid the current tumult" and expressed sympathy and a conciliatory tone towards those who died in the 11 September attacks: "The ulema voice their sadness over American deaths and hope America does not attack Afghanistan."<ref name="John Burns & Christopher Wren" /> The Taliban Education Minister [[Amir Khan Muttaqi]] said that Omar had agreed to follow guidance offered by the clerics and would try to encourage bin Laden to leave Afghanistan without forcibly handing him over to the United States for prosecution, even if bin Laden refused to leave the country.<ref name="John Burns & Christopher Wren" />
However, according to an interview with Pakistani journalist [[Rahimullah Yusufzai]], Omar told him:
{{blockquote|I don't want to go down in history as someone who betrayed his guest. I am willing to give my life, my regime. Since we have given him refuge I cannot throw him out now.<ref name="Peter Bergen" />}}
=== U.S. invasion of Afghanistan ===
{{Further|War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|Taliban insurgency}}
On the night of 7–8 October 2001, shortly after the US-led [[United States invasion of Afghanistan]] began, Omar's house in Kandahar was bombed just after he had left, fatally injuring his 10-year-old son. His stepfather, who was also his uncle, was initially reported killed,<ref>{{cite news |title=Refugees say Taliban leader's son killed |date=11 October 2001 |url= https://www.iol.co.za/news/world/refugees-say-taliban-leaders-son-killed-75093 |newspaper=[[Independent Online (South Africa)|Independent Online]] |location=South Africa |access-date=16 August 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://archive.today/20120804231808/http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=522&set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=qw1002832921692B232 |archive-date=4 August 2012 |quote=the Taliban leader had just left when a bomb struck one of his houses. They said Mullah Omar's natural father had died years before and, following Afghan custom, his mother had married his uncle.}}</ref> but later reports said he was injured and treated at a hospital.<ref>{{cite news |title=Omar's son dies in raid |date=22 October 2001 |newspaper=Birmingham Post |via=ProQuest Central}}</ref>
In another account of an attack that night, an [[MQ-1 Predator]] drone followed a three-vehicle convoy that left Omar's compound and drove to a compound to the southwest of Kandahar, with US commanders believing Omar was in one of the vehicles. Men disembarked from the vehicles and entered a large building in the compound. US military officers considered bombing the building, but were concerned that another building in the compound might be a mosque, which they wished to avoid hitting. Eventually it was decided to fire a [[AGM-114 Hellfire|Hellfire]] missile from the Predator at one of the vehicles, where armed guards kept gathering, in the hope that it would draw out anyone inside the possible mosque. The {{nowrap|attack{{tsp}}{{mdash}}}}{{tsp}}the first missile launched by a drone in {{nowrap|combat{{tsp}}{{mdash}}}}{{tsp}}appeared to cause two casualties. Dozens of men, some armed, emerged from the large building and other buildings in the compound, and some got into vehicles and departed.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/09/how-we-missed-mullah-omar-111026/ |title=How We Missed Mullah Omar |first=Richard |last=Whittle |date=16 September 2014 |work=[[Politico]] |access-date=16 August 2021}}</ref>
According to fellow Taliban fighters, Omar had secretly fled his residence in Kandahar for security purposes shortly after it was bombed and was last seen riding on the back of a motorcycle driven by his brother-in-law and right-hand man, Mullah [[Abdul Ghani Baradar]]. Senior and former Taliban officials have said that there had not been any confirmed sightings of their ''Amir-ul-Momineen'' (commander of the faithful) in Afghanistan since then.
In November 2001, he was heard over a short-wave radio ordering all Taliban troops to abandon Kabul and take to the mountains, noting, "defending the cities with front lines that can be targeted from the air will cause us terrible loss".<ref>[[Stephen Tanner]], ''Afghanistan: A Military History'', 2008</ref> In a November 2001 [[BBC World Service|BBC Pashto]] interview, Omar said, "You (the BBC) and American puppet radios have created concern. But the current situation in Afghanistan is related to a bigger cause – that is the destruction of America. ... This is not a matter of weapons. We are hopeful for God's help. The real matter is the extinction of America. And, God willing, it [America] will fall to the ground."<ref name="BBC1657368">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1657368.stm |title=Interview with Mullah Omar – transcript |work=BBC News |date=15 November 2001 |access-date=31 March 2013}}</ref> Claiming that the Americans had circulated "propaganda" that Omar had gone into hiding, Foreign Minister [[Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil]] stated that he would like to "propose that Prime Minister Blair and President Bush take [[Kalashnikov rifle|Kalashnikovs]] and come to a specified place where Omar will also appear to see who will run and who not". He stated that Omar was merely changing locations due to security reasons.<ref>Independent Online, [https://web.archive.org/web/20090326103208/http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=522&set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=qw100499238175B221 Taliban challenges Bush and Blair to a duel], 5 November 2001</ref>
During the [[Battle of Kandahar (2001)|Battle for Kandahar]] in late November 2001, US Special Operations teams known as Texas 12 and Texas 17 aligned with [[Hamid Karzai]] and with General [[Gul Agha Sherzai]], respectively, surrounded Kandahar backed by US Marines outside [[Lashkar Gah]].<ref>{{cite journal |url= https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG166-1.html |title=Air Power Against Terror|first=Benjamin S. |last=Lambeth|date=4 February 2019|website=rand.org |page=142 |quote=Secretary Rumsfeld further reported that U.S. SOF forces in and around Kandahar were not working any longer in liaison with indigenous opposition forces but instead were now operating independently as the cutting edge of an accelerated push against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In connection with that push, SOF units were now cleared to plan and execute direct-action attacks whenever deemed necessary, a long-awaited move that led to hundreds of reported enemy deaths. One US official spoke of an "unrestricted hunting license" having been given to US SOF forces for going after Taliban militia and Al Qaeda personnel. General Franks was said to have granted the involved SOF units their greatest freedom of action since Vietnam. Those units worked in small teams, primarily at night, identifying Taliban and Al Qaeda positions around Kandahar and engaging them without seeking prior CENTCOM approval. Much of this direct-action work came in the form of quick responses to tips. Ultimately, Army Special Forces units married up with converging opposition group forces, with the A-Team code-named Texas 12 accompanying Karzai and his fighters from the north and Texas 17 with Gul Agha Sharzai and his forces from the south.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Scarborough |first=Rowan |date=23 November 2001 |url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2001/nov/23/20011123-031348-5339r/|title=Special forces get free rein|website=[[The Washington Times]]}}</ref> On 28 November 2001, while under attack by a Russian-made [[BM-21 Grad|BM-21 multiple rocket launcher]], Texas 17 observed Omar's black American-made [[Chevrolet Suburban]] passing Kandahar Airport and travelling down highway four surrounded by a dozen sedans and six semi-trucks. Four US Navy [[F/A-18|F-18]]'s from [[USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63)|USS Kitty Hawk]] destroyed all the vehicles including the Suburban.<ref>Texas 17 now located six miles south of Kandahar near the Kandahar airport on 28 November 2001 0900 in the morning local spotted a Black Chevrolet Suburban driving south down Highway 4 covered by artillery fire launched from the Kandahar Airport by a Russian Made BM-21 Multiple Rocket Launcher System (MRLS) dropping artillery all around Texas 17 position.  The Black SUV headed south off of Highway four towards Pakistan surrounded by 12 sedans and six heavy trucks.  All vehicles were destroyed by Texas 17 and Navy F-18 Hornet Fighter aircraft including the Black Chevrolet Suburban, the same vehicle known to be used by Mullah Omar.</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=August 2021}} The same day, 28 November 2001, the Taliban reported that Omar had supposedly survived an American air strike.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/central/11/28/ret.afghan.omar/index.html |title=Taliban urged to fight on |date=28 November 2001|publisher=CNN |quote=The Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, is reportedly urging his forces to fight on, even as U.S. warplanes step up efforts to find and perhaps even kill him. A Taliban aide on the border with Pakistan said Omar radioed his commanders Wednesday urging them to stand up to U.S. Marines being deployed in southern Afghanistan. "Stick to your positions and fight to the death" the aide quoted Omar as saying, according to the Associated Press. "We are ready to face these Americans. We are happy that they have landed here and we will teach them a lesson." "Stick to your positions and fight to the death." The message was apparently broadcast after the Taliban leader escaped unharmed from a U.S. airstrike on what was Pentagon officials say they believed to be a command bunker close to the city of Kandahar. Officials say Omar is still in the city, which has been the movement's stronghold for several years. Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan, said Omar was not injured in the attack and was "safe and sound".}}</ref>
== After the U.S. invasion (2001–2013) ==
=== Seclusion ===
On 5 December 2001, Omar held a meeting in Kandahar of top Taliban leaders and asked them what they wanted to do. Many were ready to stop fighting and willing to surrender. Omar handed over the Taliban leadership to his defence minister, Mullah [[Obaidullah Akhund|Obaidullah]], in writing. Two days later Omar left Kandahar and went into hiding in [[Zabul province]] in Afghanistan.<ref name=Dam_Zomia>{{cite web |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5bf5692f4611a019a7c69ea6/t/5c77f4fdeef1a10b17f2abda/1551365379168/Secret+Life+of+Mullah+Omar-FINAL3.pdf |title=The Secret Life of Mullah Omar |first=Bette |last=Dam |date=2019 |publisher=Zomia Center |access-date=24 September 2021}}</ref><ref name="tg1">{{cite web |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/10/fugitive-taliban-leader-mullah-omar-lived-short-walk-from-us-base-book-claims |title=Fugitive Taliban leader lived short walk from US base, book reveals|date=10 March 2019 |work=The Guardian|author=Emma Graham-Harrison}}</ref> In the following years, there was speculation about his location – with some believing that he went to Pakistan along with other Taliban leaders – and his circumstances and purported communications. But according to [[Bette Dam]], in research published in 2019, and Borhan Osman, a senior analyst at International Crisis Group (ICG), Omar spent the rest of his life living in Zabul province.<ref name="wsj1">{{cite web |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-last-days-of-taliban-head-mullah-omar-11552226401 |title=The Last Days of Taliban Head Mullah Omar |date=10 March 2019|work=Wall Street Journal |first=Jessica |last=Donati}}</ref> Dam said that her research relied on interviews with current and former members of the Afghan government, the Afghan intelligence agency [[National Directorate of Security]], the Taliban, and Omar's bodyguard Jabbar Omari. She said that her findings, confirmed by Afghan officials as well as the Talibans, depicted the US intelligence failure and cast even further doubt on US claims in the Afghan war.<ref name=Dam_Zomia />
Omar was protected in hiding by Jabbar Omari, a former Taliban [[List of governors of Baghlan|governor of Baghlan province]], who was from Zabul province and belonged to the Hotak tribe, as Omar did. They spent four years living in the provincial capital [[Qalat, Afghanistan|Qalat]] at a private home owned by Abdul Samad Ustaz, Omari's former driver. Omar's wives moved to Pakistan and Omar declined when Omari offered to bring his son to visit. He had very little active involvement in the Taliban from the end of 2001. He sent a cassette tape to the rest of the Taliban leadership in Quetta in 2003, reaffirming that Obaidullah was the supreme leader and naming who should be on [[Quetta Shura|the leadership shura]] (council). The shura sent a messenger every three to seven months, when they wanted his advice on some matter. He sent at least one other cassette tape, in 2007, but stopped that practice after the messenger was briefly detained in Pakistan, and thereafter messages were just relayed person-to-person. Omar kept in touch with events in the world by listening to BBC Pashto radio. [[Bette Dam]] wrote, "Though Mullah Omar did not venture outside for fear of being caught, according to Jabbar Omari, in the four years they hid in that home, they felt relatively safe." The house was searched by the US military once, but they did not enter the concealed room where Omar was hiding.<ref name=Dam_Zomia /><ref name=tg1 />
After the US established [[Forward Operating Base Lagman]] a few hundred metres from the house in 2004, Omar relocated to a shack in a remote hamlet on the edge of a river, about 20 miles southeast of Qalat in [[Shinkay District]], close to the [[Durand Line]]. His hideout was connected to underground irrigation channels that ran up into the hills. Soon after moving there, the US started building Forward Operating Base (FOB) Wolverine an hour's walk or about three miles away, but Omar stayed put. The FOB eventually housed about 1,000 United States troops, and sometimes other NATO troops.<ref name=Dam_Zomia /> To avoid detection, he would occasionally hide in the underground irrigation tunnels connected to his hideout, as US planes flew over or if US or Afghan troops came to search the area. People in the village knew that Taliban personnel were living there and offered gifts of clothes and food to Omari and Omar.<ref name=Dam_Zomia /> In 2019, the Taliban released a picture of the supposed hideout where Omar spent the last years of his life.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/03/11/taliban-back-report-mullah-omar-hid-death-afghanistan-near-us/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/03/11/taliban-back-report-mullah-omar-hid-death-afghanistan-near-us/ |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Taliban release pictures of Mullah Omar's 'hideout in Afghanistan'|date=11 March 2019|work=Telegraph UK|author=Ben Farmer and Saleem Mehsud}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The pictures show a modest mud house with a small garden in which Omar "used to sit in the sun", according to a Taliban spokesman.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/taliban-leader-mullah-omar-hid-mud-house-afghanistan-militant-group-n982036|title=Taliban leader Mullah Omar hid in mud house in Afghanistan, militant group says|date=12 March 2019|publisher=NBC News|author=Mushtaq Yusufzai and F. Brinley Bruton}}</ref>
Jabbar Omari said that Omar grew ill in 2013, refusing to visit a doctor and dying of illness on 23 April. Omari and two helpers buried him that night, with Omari videoing the burial as proof. Omari went to Quetta, returning with Omar's son Yaqoob and brother [[Abdul Manan Omari]], who had not seen him since 2001. Yaqoob insisted that the grave be opened so that he could see his father. Omari went to Quetta and met with ten senior Taliban to describe the 12 years he spent with Omar. Obaidullah had died in 2010 and [[Akhtar Mansour]] was the operational leader of the Taliban. Four religious scholars at the meeting decided that Mansour should continue as leader, but that Omar's death and Mansour's succession should not be disclosed publicly yet, while the United States was preparing to withdraw from Afghanistan. Some at the meeting unsuccessfully argued for openness.<ref name="Dam_Zomia" /> Omar's death remained a secret for two years.<ref name="tg1" /> The Taliban were extremely successful at keeping Omar's death hidden during these two years even from highly experienced experts on the upper echelons of the Taliban. Afghanistan and Pakistan analyst [[Michael Semple]], for example, wrote in a December 2014 report that "Mullah Omar remains the Taliban supreme leader and the source of all authority in the movement."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Maley |first1=William |title=The Afghanistan Wars |date=3 November 2020 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-352-01101-2 |pages=242–243 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PpJKEAAAQBAJ&q=william+maley |language=en}}</ref>
=== Suspected activities ===
Some believed that Omar hid in the mountains of southern Afghanistan for over a year before he fled to neighboring Pakistan in late 2002. He continued to receive the allegiance of prominent pro-Taliban military leaders in the region, including [[Jalaluddin Haqqani]]. According to sources, he lived somewhere in [[Karachi]] for a time, where he worked as a potato trader to escape detection; a city where he had lived in already and visited for many years before the groups emergence in the 1990's.<ref name="McClatchy">{{cite news |date=4 August 2015 |url=http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article29940219.html |access-date=4 August 2015 |title=Mullah Omar worked as potato vendor to escape detection in Pakistan}}</ref> The United States offered a reward of US$10&nbsp;million for information leading to his capture.<ref name="rjfEnglish" />
In April 2004, Omar was interviewed via phone by Pakistani journalist Mohammed Shehzad.<ref name="rediff">{{cite web |title=The Rediff Interview/Mullah Omar |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/apr/12inter.htm |access-date=23 January 2013 |work=[[Rediff.com]] |date=12 April 2004}}</ref> During the interview, Omar claimed that [[Osama bin Laden]] was alive and well, and that his last contact with Bin Laden was months before the interview. Omar declared that the Taliban were "hunting Americans like pigs".<ref name="rediff" />
In the years following the allied invasion, numerous statements were released that were identified as coming from Omar. In June 2006, a statement regarding the death of [[Abu Musab al-Zarqawi]] in Iraq was released by Omar and in it, he hailed al-Zarqawi as a martyr and he also claimed that the resistance movements in Afghanistan and Iraq "will not be weakened".<ref>{{cite news |work=BBC News |date=9 June 2006 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5062964.stm |access-date=2 July 2006 |title=Taliban play down Zarqawi death}}</ref> Then, in December 2006, Omar reportedly issued a statement expressing confidence that foreign forces will be driven out of Afghanistan.<ref>{{Cite news |publisher=[[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al Jazeera]] |date=31 December 2006 |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2006/12/200852513171162862.html |access-date=1 January 2007 |title=Mullah Omar issues Eid message}}</ref>
In January 2007, it was reported that Omar made his "first exchange with a journalist since he went into hiding" in 2001 with [[Muhammad Hanif (Taliban spokesperson)|Muhammad Hanif]] via email and courier. In it he promised "more Afghan War", and he also said that the more than one hundred suicide bomb attacks which occurred in Afghanistan in the last year had been carried out by bombers who acted on religious orders which they received from the Taliban – "the [[Mujahideen|mujahedeen]] do not take any action without a [[fatwa]]."<ref>{{cite news |author=Ismail Khan |author2=Carlotta Gall |date=5 January 2007 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/05/world/asia/05taliban.html |title=Taliban Leader Promises More Afghan War |newspaper=The New York Times |page=A4 |access-date=31 March 2013}}</ref> In April 2007, Omar issued another statement through an intermediary in which he encouraged more suicide attacks.<ref>{{cite news|work=Reuters|date=21 April 2007|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSISL330010._CH_.2400|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20100122065058/http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSISL330010._CH_.2400|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 January 2010|access-date=19 August 2009|title=Taliban's elusive leader urges more suicide raids}}</ref>
In November 2009, ''The Washington Times'' claimed that Omar, assisted by Pakistan's [[Inter-Services Intelligence]] (ISI), had moved back to Karachi in October.<ref>{{Cite news |first1=Eli |last1=Lake |last2=Carter |first2=Sara A. |last3=Slavin |first3=Barbara |title=EXCLUSIVE: Taliban chief hides in Pakistan |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/20/taliban-chief-takes-cover-in-pakistan-populace/ |work=[[The Washington Times]] |date=20 November 2009 |access-date=20 November 2009}}</ref> In January 2010, Brigadier [[Amir Sultan Tarar]], a retired officer with ISI who had previously trained Omar, said that he was ready to break with his al-Qaida allies and make peace in Afghanistan: "The moment he gets control, the first target will be the al-Qaida people."<ref>{{cite news |author=Declan Walsh |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/29/taliban-afghanistan-mullah-muhammad-omar |title=Afghan Taliban leader ready to end al-Qaida ties, says former trainer |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=31 July 2015 |access-date=31 March 2013}}</ref>
In January 2011, ''The Washington Post'', citing a report which was published by the [[Eclipse Group]], a privately operated intelligence network that may be contracted by the CIA, stated that Omar had a [[Myocardial infarction|heart attack]] on 7 January 2011. According to the report, Pakistan's ISI rushed Omar to a hospital near Karachi where he was operated on, treated, and then released several days later. Pakistan's Ambassador to the US, stated that the report "had no basis whatsoever".<ref>[[Agence France-Presse]], "Pakistan 'treated Taliban leader'", ''[[Japan Times]]'', 20 January 2011, p. 1.</ref>
On 23 May 2011, [[TOLO News]] in Afghanistan quoted unnamed sources as saying that Omar had been killed by ISI two days earlier. Taliban spokesman [[Zabihullah Mujahid]] responded to the report by stating, "He is in Afghanistan safe and sound."<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-omar-idUSTRE74M0O220110523 |work=Reuters |title=Afghan Taliban say leader Mullah Omar 'safe and sound' |date=23 May 2011}}</ref> On 20 July 2011, phone text messages which were delivered from accounts which were used by Mujahid and fellow spokesman [[Qari Mohammad Yousuf|Qari Mohammed Yousuf]] announced Omar's death. However, Mujahid and Yousuf quickly denied sending the messages and they claimed that their mobile phones, websites, and e-mail accounts had all been hacked, and they swore revenge on the telephone network providers.<ref>Shalizi, Hamid, [[Reuters]], "[https://web.archive.org/web/20110723120656/http://news.yahoo.com/taliban-mullah-omar-death-report-false-phone-hacked-033522641.html Taliban say Mullah Omar death report false, phone hacked]", [[Yahoo! News]], 20 July 2011.</ref> In 2012, it was revealed that an individual claiming to be Omar sent a letter to President Barack Obama in 2011, expressing slight interest in peace talks.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/9060564/Taliban-leader-Mullah-Omar-sent-letter-to-Barack-Obama.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/9060564/Taliban-leader-Mullah-Omar-sent-letter-to-Barack-Obama.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Taliban leader Mullah Omar 'sent letter to Barack Obama' |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=London |date=3 February 2012|access-date=3 February 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-afghanistan-taliban-letter-idUSTRE8121M520120203 |title=Amid peace bid, U.S. received purported letter from Taliban |work=Reuters |date=3 February 2012|access-date=3 February 2012}}</ref>
On 31 May 2014, five senior Afghan detainees were released from the [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp]] in Cuba in return for the release of American prisoner of war Sergeant [[Bowe Bergdahl]] – a person claiming to be Omar reportedly hailed their release.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-27655308 |work=BBC News |title=Bowe Bergdahl: Chuck Hagel praises release special forces |date=1 June 2014 |access-date=18 August 2014}}</ref>
In December 2014, acting Afghan intelligence chief [[Rahmatullah Nabil]] stated that he was not sure "whether Omar is alive or dead". This statement was made after the Afghan intelligence agency published reports in which it revealed that fracturing was occurring within the Taliban movement, leading some reporters to speculate that a leadership struggle had ensued because Omar had died.<ref>{{cite news |title=Taliban Supreme leader Mullah Omar has possibly died |newspaper= The Khaama Press News Agency |url= http://www.khaama.com/taliban-supreme-leader-mullah-omar-has-possibly-died-8778 |date=19 November 2014 |access-date=1 January 2015}}</ref> Later reports which were released by Afghan intelligence in December said that Omar had been hiding in Karachi. An anonymous European intelligence official stated that "there's a consensus among all three branches of the Afghan security forces that Omar is alive. Not only do they think he's alive, they say they have a good understanding of where exactly he is in Karachi."<ref>{{cite news |first=Matthew |last=Rosenberg |title=Around an Invisible Leader, Taliban Power Shifts |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/29/world/around-an-invisible-leader-taliban-power-shifts.html |date=28 December 2014 |page=A3 |access-date=1 January 2015}}</ref>
In April 2015, a man who claimed to be Mullah Omar issued a [[fatwa]] which decreed that pledges of allegiance to the [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]] (ISIS) are forbidden by Islamic law. The man described ISIS leader [[Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi]] as a "fake [[Caliphate|caliph]]", and he also said that "Baghdadi just wanted to dominate what has so far been achieved by the real jihadists of Islam after three decades of jihad. A pledge of allegiance to him is '[[haram]]'."<ref>{{cite web|title=Taliban leader: allegiance to ISIS 'haram'|url=http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/130420151|agency=Rudaw|date=13 April 2015 |access-date=31 July 2015}}</ref>
=== 2015 announcement of his death ===
{{Primary sources section
| date = April 2022
}}
On 29 July 2015, Abdul Hassib Seddiqi, the spokesman for Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security, said "officially" that Mohammed Omar had died at a hospital in [[Karachi]], Pakistan, in April 2013,<ref name=APNews_20150730>{{cite news |last=O'Donnell |first=Lynne |date=30 July 2015 |url= https://apnews.com/article/8aea0d55437f4bac9f0356cf0510a69b |title=Afghanistan says Taliban leader Mullah Omar died 2 years ago |newspaper=AP News |publisher=[[Associated Press]] |access-date=27 September 2021}}</ref> and the office of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani confirmed that information on his death was "credible".<ref name="BBC33703097">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-33703097 |title=Mullah Omar: Taliban leader 'died in Pakistan in 2013' |date=29 July 2015|work=BBC News |access-date=25 September 2021}}</ref> Pakistani newspaper ''[[The Express Tribune]]'' reported that a former Taliban minister and current leadership council member, who spoke anonymously, said Omar died from [[tuberculosis]].<ref name="time-2015">{{Cite magazine|author=Nikhil Kumar|date=29 July 2015|title=Mullah Omar Taliban Death|magazine=Time|url=https://time.com/3976472/mullah-omar-taliban-death/|access-date=29 July 2015}}</ref><ref name="auto2">{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/07/29/taliban-leader-mullah-omar/30819359/|title=Afghan intel agency: Taliban leader died two years ago |date=29 July 2015 |website=USA Today}}</ref><ref name="NYT_July2">{{cite news |last1=Goldstein |first1=Joseph |last2=Shah |first2=Taimoor |date=30 July 2015 |title=Death of Mullah Omar Exposes Divisions Within Taliban |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/31/world/asia/taliban-confirm-death-of-mullah-omar-and-weigh-successor.html |access-date=31 July 2015}}<!-- This reference is used in at least two more locations. --></ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Graham-Harrison |first=Emma |date=14 September 2021 |title=Questions in Kabul as two top Taliban leaders 'missing from public view' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/14/questions-in-kabul-as-two-top-taliban-leaders-missing-from-public-view |access-date=14 September 2021 |website=[[TheGuardian.com]] |quote=The group's record may have fuelled the theories. The death of founding leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was concealed for two years and, during that time, the Taliban continued to issue statements in his name.}}</ref><ref name="BBC33703097" />
The following day, the Taliban confirmed that he was dead,<ref name="NYT_July">{{cite news|last1=Goldstein|first1=Joseph|last2=Shah|first2=Taimoor|date=30 July 2015|title=Death of Mullah Omar Exposes Divisions Within Taliban|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/31/world/asia/taliban-confirm-death-of-mullah-omar-and-weigh-successor.html|access-date=31 July 2015}}<!-- This reference is used in at least two more locations. --></ref> but denied that he died in Pakistan.<ref name="Dawn">{{cite news|title=Mullah Omar did not die in Pakistan, say Afghan Taliban|url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1197371/|date=30 July 2015|work=Dawn News|access-date=31 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150801233916/http://www.dawn.com/news/1197371|archive-date=1 August 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Other Taliban members stated that his death occurred in Afghanistan. According to an official statement by Pakistani defence minister [[Khawaja Asif]], "Mullah Omar neither died nor was buried in Pakistan and his sons' statements are on record to support this. Whether he died now or two years ago is another controversy which we do not wish to be a part of. He was neither in Karachi nor in [[Quetta]]."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/933944/mullah-omar-did-not-die-in-pakistan-asif-tells-na/|title=Mullah Omar did not die in Pakistan, defence minister tells NA|work=The Express Tribune|date=7 August 2015|access-date=7 August 2015}}</ref>
Afghan officials report that Omar was buried in [[Zabul province]], a province in southern Afghanistan.<ref name="tel1">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/11770159/Taliban-supreme-leader-Mullah-Omar-is-dead.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/11770159/Taliban-supreme-leader-Mullah-Omar-is-dead.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar 'is dead' |date=29 July 2015 |access-date=29 July 2015|work=Telegraph UK|author=Muhammad Zubair Khan and Andrew Marszal}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Atta Mohammed Haqyar, head of Zabul's provincial council, believed that Omar was buried in a cemetery in Sarkhogan area of [[Shinkay District|Shinkay]] district in Zabul province. Several senior Taliban commanders have also been buried in Sarkhogan area. He further stated that the area had special significance for the [[Hotak]] tribe which Omar was from.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.khaama.com/search-underway-for-mullah-omars-grave-in-zabul-3750/|title=Search underway for Mullah Omar's grave in Zabul|access-date=13 August 2015|work=Khaama Press}}</ref>
Sources close to the Taliban leadership said his deputy, [[Akhtar Mansoor]], would replace him, although with the lesser title of Supreme Leader.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}} It was confirmed by a senior Taliban member that Omar's death was kept a secret for two years.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.yahoo.com/taliban-leader-facing-tension-top-official-quits-084411182.html|title=New Taliban leader facing tension as top official quits|date=4 August 2015|work=Yahoo News|access-date=6 August 2015}}</ref>
[[Fidai Mahaz]], a Taliban splinter group, claimed that Omar did not die of natural causes; rather he was killed in his hideout in Zabul province.<ref name="Mirror">{{cite web|date=21 August 2015|title=Why the Taliban murdered their own leader and the terrifying fallout now threatening the West|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/taliban-murdered-leader-terrifying-fallout-6296603|access-date=22 August 2015|website=The Mirror}}</ref>
Many Islamist and jihadist movements expressed condolences following Omar's death, including [[Ajnad al-Kavkaz]],<ref>{{cite web |url= https://twitter.com/Weissenberg7/status/627178879925551104 |title=Ajnad al Kavkaz sending condolences to the Taliban on the death of Mullah Omar |last=Weiss |first=Caleb |date=31 July 2015 |website=Twitter }}</ref> [[Ansar Al-Furqan]],<ref>{{cite web |url= https://twitter.com/Weissenberg7/status/627183045003616256 |title=Ansar al Furqan's statement of condolences on the death of "Emir al Mumineen" Mullah Omar |last=Weiss |first=Caleb |date= 31 July 2015|website=Twitter }}</ref> [[Islamic Front (Syria)|Islamic Front]]'s [[Ahrar al-Sham]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/08/syrian-jihadists-honor-mullah-omar-praise-talibans-radical-state.php |title=Jihadists in Syria honor Mullah Omar, praise Taliban's radical state|website=The Long War Journal|date= 4 August 2015|last=Joscelyn |first=Thomas |publisher=Foundation for Defense of Democracies}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Westall |first= Sylvia |editor-last= Lidstone |editor-first= Digby |date=1 August 2015 |title=Syrian Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham mourns Taliban leader |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-taliban-syria-ahrar-idUSKCN0Q63BV20150801 |work= Reuters |location= BEIRUT}}</ref> [[Jaish Muhammad]],<ref>{{cite web |url= https://twitter.com/Weissenberg7/status/627466127212457984 |title=Jaish Muhammad, a foreign led group in #Syria, sends condolences on the death of "Emir al Mumineen" Mullah Omar. |last=Weiss |first=Caleb |date= 1 August 2015 |website=Twitter }}</ref> [[Ansar al-Din Front]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/Weissenberg7/status/627542649638125568 |title=Jabhat Ansar al Din coalition sending condolences on the death of 'Emir al Mumineen' Mullah Omar |last=Weiss |first=Caleb |date=1 August 2015 |website=Twitter }}</ref> [[Turkistan Islamic Party]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/Weissenberg7/status/627973122675838976 |title=TIP in #Syria sending condolences on the death of "Emir al Mumineen" Mullah Omar via @VegetaMoustache |last=Weiss |first=Caleb |date=2 August 2015 |website=Twitter }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://jihadology.net/2015/08/03/new-statement-from-%E1%B8%A5izb-al-islami-al-turkistani-in-bilad-al-sham-concerning-the-death-of-mulla-mu%E1%B8%A5mmad-umar/ |title=New statement from Ḥizb al-Islāmī al-Turkistānī in Bilād al-Shām: "Concerning the Death of Mullā Muḥmmad 'Umar" |last1=Zelin |first1= Aaron Y. |date=3 August 2015|website=JIHADOLOGY }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=المرصد السوري |url=http://www.syriahr.com/?p=127156 |title="الحزب الإسلامي التركستاني لنصرة أهل الشام" يعزي بـ "وفاة أمير المؤمنين الملا عمر" &#124; المرصد السورى لحقوق الإنسان |website=Syriahr.com |date=2 August 2015 |access-date=13 May 2016}}</ref> [[Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/Weissenberg7/status/628383284343500800 |title=Jamaat Ansar al Sunnah sending condolences on the death of Mullah Omar |last=Weiss |first=Caleb |date=3 August 2015 |website=Twitter }}</ref> [[Jaish al Ummah]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/Weissenberg7/status/628550091436068864 |title=Jaish al Ummah sending condolences on the death of Mullah Omar via @VegetaMoustache |last=Weiss |first=Caleb |date=4 August 2015 |website=Twitter }}</ref> [[Jamaat-ul-Ahrar]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/Weissenberg7/status/628552760062013440 |title=TTP Jamaat ul Ahrar sending condolences on the death of 'Emir al Mumineen' Mullah Omar via @VegetaMoustache |last=Weiss |first=Caleb |date=4 August 2015 |website=Twitter }}</ref> [[Caucasus Emirate]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/Weissenberg7/status/628553590815236096 |title=Audio statement from the emir of the Caucasus Emirate Abu Usman on the death of Mullah Omar via @VegetaMoustache |last=Weiss |first=Caleb |date=4 August 2015 |website=Twitter }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/Weissenberg7/status/628590843528671232 |title=Written Arabic statement of condolences on death of 'Emir al Mumineen' Mullah Omar from the Caucasus Emirate … |last=Weiss |first=Caleb |date=4 August 2015 |website=Twitter }}</ref> [[Jaish al-Islam]],<ref>{{cite web |url= https://twitter.com/Weissenberg7/status/628631649253748736 |title=Jaish al Islam in Palestine sending condolences on the death of 'Emir al Mumineen' Mullah Omar |last=Weiss |first=Caleb |date=31 July 2015 |website=Twitter }}</ref> [[Al-Nusra Front]], [[Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula|AQAP]], [[al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb|AQIM]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/Weissenberg7/status/628980812151681024 |title=Joint statement from AQIM, AQAP, and Al Nusrah (AQ in Syria) on death of "Emir al Mumineen" Mullah Omar |last=Weiss |first=Caleb |date=31 July 2015 |website=Twitter }}</ref> and [[Al-Shabaab (militant group)|Al-Shabaab]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/Weissenberg7/status/631942600031731712 |title=Shabaab sending condolences on the death of 'Emir al Mumineen' Mullah Omar via @VegetaMoustache |last=Weiss |first=Caleb |date=31 July 2015 |website=Twitter }}</ref>
Conversely, the Afghan government was unsympathetic to mourning his death; security forces were ordered to prevent citizens from publicly grieving Omar. A [[National Directorate of Security]] (NDS) spokesman said that Omar was "the biggest cause of war and backwardness in the modern history of Afghanistan", adding that any ceremony for Omar would be an "insult" to victims of the Taliban.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Kabul Unsympathetic To Mourning Mullah Omar |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-mullah-omar-mourning-security-forces/27170421.html |access-date=2022-04-12 |website=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty |language=en|last1=Najibullah |first1=Farangis }}</ref> Meanwhile, thousands of Afghans nationwide took part in rallies on 4 August, denouncing Omar.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-mullah-omar-mourning-security-forces/27170421.html|title = Kabul Unsympathetic to Mourning Mullah Omar| newspaper=Radiofreeeurope/Radioliberty | last1=Najibullah | first1=Farangis }}</ref>
After his death, the [[Taliban]] regained control of Afghanistan as the [[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan|Second Islamic Emirate]] following the [[Fall of Kabul (2021)|Fall of Kabul]] during the [[2021 Taliban offensive|Taliban offensive]]. During this time the location of Mullah Omar's grave was indirectly revealed. The grave is situated in the Suri district of [[Zabul Province]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-06 |title=Taliban Reveal Burial Place of Founder Mullah Omar, Nine Years After Death |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/taliban-reveal-burial-place-of-founder-mullah-omar-nine-years-after-death-/6823191.html |access-date=2023-11-18 |website=Voice of America |language=en}}</ref>
== Personal life ==
Despite his political rank and his high status on the [[Rewards for Justice Program|Rewards for Justice]] most wanted list,<ref name="rjfEnglish" /> not much was publicly known about Omar. Omar made no public speeches and always refused to meet foreigners;<ref name="visionary">{{Cite web |title='Visionary' mullah who protects terror leader is mentally unstable |url=https://www.independent.ie/world-news/asia-pacific/visionary-mullah-who-protects-terror-leader-is-mentally-unstable-26070431.html |website=Independent|date=7 October 2001 }}</ref> Before his death, only one known photo existed of him. After his death, the Taliban released a newer and clearer photo showing Omar in his youth in 1978.<ref>{{cite web |last=AFP |date=12 October 2015 |title=Rare new picture surfaces of Taliban founder Mullah Omar |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1212611 |access-date=14 June 2016 |website=Dawn |location=Pakistan}}</ref>
Accounts of his physical appearance state that Omar was thin, strongly built and very tall, at around {{convert|6|ft|6|in|abbr=on|order=flip}}.<ref name="conflict" /><ref name="Ismail Khan 1996, p. 226">Ismail Khan, "Mojaddedi Opposes Elevation of Taliban's Omar", ''Islamabad the News'', 6 April 1996, quoted in Wright, ''Looming Tower'', (2006), p. 226</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Robert Marquand |date=10 October 2001 |title=The reclusive ruler who runs the Taliban |work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1010/p1s4-wosc.html}}</ref> Omar was described as shy and taciturn,<ref>{{cite web |date=5 March 2007 |title=Afghanistan: Taliban Preps for Bloody Assault |url=https://www.newsweek.com/afghanistan-taliban-preps-bloody-assault-95547 |website=Newsweek}}</ref> by – for example – the famed Afghan poet [[Abdul Bari Jahani]], who visited him with academics and activists at the beginning of his rule. The members of this group applauded the order and security he brought to the country, and Jahani remembers him as a "tall and handsome" man who "listened in quiet."<ref>Mujib Mashal (6 June 2012), [https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/06/20126665650415526.html "The myth of Mullah Omar"], ''Al Jazeera''. Retrieved 20 April 2020.</ref> Zaeef said "he listened, he was patient, and he did not react in anger." Conversely, a former Saudi intelligence chief who met him said Omar was "extremely nervous, perspired, and even screamed at me."{{sfn|Aggarwal|2016}} Senior Taliban leaders claimed he would "stumble over his native tongue in the interviews he occasionally gave the [[BBC Pashto]] service."{{sfn|Aggarwal|2016}} He had "at least" three wives and "at least" five or six children,<ref>CNN Library (1 May 2017), [https://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/30/world/meast/mullah-mohammed-omar---fast-facts/index.html "Mullah Mohammed Omar Fast Facts"], ''CNN''. Retrieved 24 April 2020.</ref> including [[Mullah Yaqoob]], the current acting [[Minister of Defence (Afghanistan)|Defence Minister of Afghanistan]].<ref>{{cite web |date=7 September 2021 |title=Taliban Announces Head of State, Acting Ministers |url=https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-174556 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907165904/https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-174556 |archive-date=7 September 2021 |access-date=22 September 2021 |website=tolonews.com |publisher=[[TOLOnews]] |language=en}}</ref>
Omar refused to and never made a [[Hajj|pilgrimage to Mecca]], despite receiving a personal invitation from King [[Fahd of Saudi Arabia]] to do so in 1998.<ref name="newsweek.com">{{cite web |date=15 October 2015 |title=Afghanistan: Has Taliban Leader Mullah Omar Lost His Mind? |url=http://www.newsweek.com/afghanistan-has-taliban-leader-mullah-omar-lost-his-mind-65447 |access-date=14 August 2015 |website=Newsweek}}</ref>
== Writings ==
Omar wrote biannual essays towards the end of his life.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Coll |first=Steve |date=15 January 2012 |title=Looking for Mullah Omar |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/01/23/looking-for-mullah-omar |access-date=18 September 2023 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |quote=The biannual essays issued under Mullah Omar’s name emphasize corruption and injustice—problems that echo the grievances that brought the Taliban to power.}}</ref>
== See also ==
*[[Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi]]
*[[Mullah Krekar]]
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |last1=Aggarwal|first1=Neil Krishan|title=The Taliban's Virtual Emirate: The Culture and Psychology of an Online Militant Community|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2016|isbn=978-0-231-54162-6|url=https://www.perlego.com/book/774170/the-talibans-virtual-emirate-the-culture-and-psychology-of-an-online-militant-community-pdf}}
* {{Cite book |last=Coll |first=Steve |title=Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September&nbsp;10, 2001 |year=2004 |publisher=Penguin Press |isbn=1-59420-007-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780141020808|url-access=registration }}
* {{Cite book |last=Dam |first=Bette |title=Looking for the Enemy: Mullah Omar and the Unknown Taliban |year=2021 |publisher=HarperCollins India |isbn=9789354892790|url=https://harpercollins.co.in/looking-for-the-enemy-pr/ }}
* {{Cite book |first=Larry P. |last=Goodson |title=Afghanistan's Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics and the Rise of the Taliban |url=https://archive.org/details/afghanistansendl0000good |url-access=registration |publisher=University of Washington Press |location=Seattle |year=2001 |isbn=0-295-98111-3 |oclc=44634408}}
* {{Cite book |last=Rashid |first=Ahmad |title=Taliban: The Story of the Afghan Warlords |year=2001 |publisher=Pan Books |location=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_GR5tXpppS0C |isbn=0-330-49221-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=Weber |first=Olivier |year=2001 |title=Le faucon afghan: un voyage au royaume des talibans |publisher=Robert Laffont |location=Paris |isbn=2221093135 |language=fr |oclc=319750715 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/lefauconafghanun0000webe }}
== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{NYTtopic|people/o/muhammad_omar}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100906063747/http://www.newsweek.com/tag/mullah-mohammed-omar.html Mullah Mohammed Omar] collected news and commentary at ''[[Newsweek]]''
'''Interviews'''
* [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/26/afghanistan.features11 "Mullah Omar – in his own words"], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 26 September 2001
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1657368.stm "Interview with Mullah Omar – transcript"], [[BBC News]], 15 November 2001
'''Articles'''
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2001/war_on_terror/investigation_on_terror/people_3.stm Investigating Terror: Accomplices], BBC News, 2001
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7236177.stm US says Mullah Omar 'in Pakistan'], BBC News, 9 February 2008
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101023010724/http://www.hindustantimes.com/Mullah-Mohammed-Omar/Article1-450823.aspx Mullah Mohammed Omar], ''[[Hindustan Times]]'', 6 September 2009
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1550419.stm Profile: Mullah Mohammed Omar], BBC News, 6 July 2010
'''Declassified documents'''
* [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] releases through the [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|FOIA]]:
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20170202002519/http://www.dia.mil/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=ARggteAo91c%3d&tabid=7068&portalid=27&mid=14146 The Taliban and Their Leaders]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20170202002523/http://www.dia.mil/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=qYhcfmU3vmk%3d&tabid=7068&portalid=27&mid=14146 Taliban Mullah Omar and the Council of Ministers]
{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-new|office}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan]]|order=1st|years=1996–2013}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Akhtar Mansour]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Burhanuddin Rabbani]]|as=[[President of Afghanistan|President]]}}
{{s-dis|title=[[Head of state of Afghanistan]]|years=1996–2001|by=[[Burhanuddin Rabbani]] (as [[President of Afghanistan|President]])|reason=[[Afghan Civil War (1996–2001)]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Burhanuddin Rabbani]]|as=[[President of Afghanistan|President]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Presidents of Afghanistan}}
{{Taliban}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Pashtun nationalism}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Omar, Mullah}}
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