Afghan Biographies

Salam, Abdul Hanafi Mullah


Name Salam, Abdul Hanafi Mullah
Ethnic backgr. Uzbek
Date of birth 1968
Function/Grade Second Deputy Prime Minister
History and Biodata

2. Previous Functions:
Deputy Minister Education and Governor Uruzgan Oruzgan Urozgan Province under Taliban regime,
Shadow Governor Kunduz (200705) and also Taliban's Chief Commander for Northern Afghanistan (200705, 20141023)
Second Deputy Prime Minister (20210907)

3. Biodata:
Abdul Salam Hanafi Ali Mardan Qul Mullah Abdul Salaam Baryali (alias (a) Abdussalam Hanifi, (b) Hanafi Saheb). Mullah, Maulavi Mullah Abdul Salam Akhund Mawlawi Abdul Salam Hanafi was born 1968 in Darzab District, Faryab Province. Mullah Abdul Salam was the Taliban Shadow Governor in Kunduz Province before he got arrested in Pakistan in February 2010. NATO is listing him as a High Value Target with No. 1146.

Mullah Abdul Salam Hanafi is said to be the Taliban's chief commander for northern Afghanistan, where Kunduz province has emerged as a major Taliban stronghold over the last couple of years. "He was a tyrant. He was a cruel person. He strongly rejected the peace process," the governor of Afghanistan's Kunduz province, Mohammad Omar Governor of Kunduz Province, is quoted by AP news agency.

On 20100217, Pakistan's military intelligence service, aided by the CIA, has captured the shadow Taliban governor of Afghanistan's Kunduz province during a raid in the city of Faisalabad. Mullah Abdul Salam was detained during a joint raid by the Inter-Services Intelligence agency and the CIA  in the eastern province of Punjab. (20101010)

Salam is considered a dangerous and effective commander. He is currently number one on the Coalition's 10-most-wanted list for Kunduz province. Salam takes direct orders from the Quetta Shura, the Taliban's executive council, which is based in Pakistan and was led by Baradar before his capture. Leading the charge for the Taliban in Kunduz is Mullah Abdul Salam, a native of Kunduz Province who was the insurgents’ shadow governor before his arrest by the Pakistani authorities in 2010.

He was set free in a negotiated prisoner release between the Afghan High Peace Council and the Pakistani government in 2013. The release of Akhund and Mullah Mohammad Hassan was part of a diplomatic maneuver that led to the opening last year of a Taliban representative office in Doha, capital of the Persian Gulf emirate Qatar. Taliban officials based there have since been at the forefront of diplomatic exchanges, leading to the first direct talks in August between the insurgents and the Afghan government. Released from prison Mullah Salam has also been identified by local security forces in Kunduz, and is said to command some 2,000 fighters at present. (20140801)

Under his leadership this summer (2014), it appears the insurgents have been trying new tactics, showing a flexibility in governing rather than relying on fear, according to interviews with more than two dozen locals and officials across the province. Residents and an aid official said that local commanders had been allowing schools to stay open and even distributing pens and notebooks — including at girls’ schools, which were often targets for violence under the Taliban’s rule in the 1990s. They said the insurgents had even given their blessing to international development projects in some areas, which would once have been unthinkable.

Kunduz Provincial governor Ghulam Sakhi Baghlani said on Tuesday (20140902) that at least three districts out of a total of seven were still under the control of Bilal and Mullah Abdul Salam, another militant leader he identified as the Taliban's "shadow governor" of the province.

 

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on February 27, 2017 that Mullah Abdul Salam Akhund was killed in a “special operation. Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said Akhund was killed along with nine other Taliban militants. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed Akhund’s death in a statement, saying he was killed by a U.S. air strike in the Dashti-e-Archi district in the northern province of Kunduz. Akhund, the commander of Taliban forces in the northern province of Kunduz, had been declared dead several times in the past only to reappear.(20170228)
 

A statement by NDS said Karimullah son of Sarwar and brother of Mullah Salam was arrested before he manage to disguise as another individual and escape from the province. The statement further added that Karimullah was arrested along with another individual after they were identified by the intelligence operatives.(20170413)



Background:
A problem is that there is a Abdul Salam Akhund who is a notorious Taliban warlord from Musa Qala (Helmand), Taliban defector/collaborator w/British MI6.  Apparently, there are many guys named “Mullah Abdul Salam”, one of them is recognized as the Taliban shadow governor for Kunduz ("Pakistan Arrests Germany’s Enemy Number One").  Mullah Abdul Salam has been taken into custody in Pakistan. This guy is a lieutenant in the Mullah Mansour faction of Taliban.  This would support the idea of another escalation in the Taliban civil war.  Now if we knew for certain which side was being wooed in Kandahar when the UAE Diplomats were hit, then we might understand this war within a war. Abdul Salam Akhund below has been attacked by the Taliban before for his duplicity.  For that reason, it is suspected that Western forces are up to their old games in Afghanistan which got British agents booted out before?
[ British in Negotiations with Taliban–27 Dec 2007  ;  The British-American War Continues: MI-6 Agents Expelled from Afghanistan ; Our Deal With Mullah Abdul Salaam–14 Jan 2008 ; Which Mullah Abdul Salaam Does Pakistan Have In Custody?–March 8, 2010 ; Unknown Gunmen Attack Taliban Former Envoy House In Kabul—Dec 24, 2016 ]

Last Modified 2021-10-07
Established 2010-02-19