Afghan Biographies

Omar, Mohammad Yaqoob Mullah


Name Omar, Mohammad Yaqoob Mullah
Ethnic backgr. Pashtun
Date of birth 1990
Function/Grade Minister of Defense
History and Biodata

1. Previous Minister of Defense 
Mohammad Qasim Fahim (2004),
Abdurrahim Wardak (2005 - 20120804), fired by Wolesi Jirga, and resigned as acting Minister  (20120807)
Inayatullah Nazari acting (20120808)
Gen. Bismillah Mohammadi (20120915 -20140930) Acting Minister of Defense (20141001)
Enayatullah Nazari (20110605) acting Minister of Defense (20120808) and again 20141209 (20160418)
nominated Lt Gen Abdullah Khan Habibi (20160419) and approved by Wolesi Jirga (20160620) resigned (20170424)
Lt Gen Tariq Shah Bahrami (20170426-20180825 resigned)
Assadullah Khaild (20181224, 20201121, 20210618)
Lt Gen Bismillah Mohammadi (20210619)
Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir (20210826)
Mullah Mohammad Yaqoub Omar Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid (201210907)

Mullah Shirin deputy minister of defence for Intelligence affairs (20230504)

Deputy Defence Minister:
Mullah Muhammad Fazl Akhund (aka Fazl Mazlum) Mullah Mohammad Fazel Mazloum Deputy Defense Minister Mullah Mohammad Fazil Mazloom (20211005, 20220111))

Maulvi Ataullah Omari Acting Deputy Minister of Defense for Technology and Logistics (2022)

Deputy Defence Minister: 
Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir (20211005)



Spokesman for the Ministry of Defense (MoD):
Enayatullah Khwarazimi (20230414)
 

Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces:

Qari Fasihuddin Fitrat (20230417)



Chief auditor at the Ministry of Defence and head of the Taliban Security Forces Contingent Inspection / Commission:
(The commission has two deputies — one from intelligence and another from interior ministry. In provinces the commission has four members and the intelligence head of every province is head of the provincial Commissions.)

Mufti Lutfullah Hakimi (20220201)

Director of Intelligence Affairs of the MoD:
Mullah Mohammad Ali Akhund (20211005)


Director of Personnel and Education of the MoD:
Mawlawi Nasrullah Mati (20211005)


Director of Logistics at the MoD:
Timur Shah Akhund (20211005)


Director of Construction, Property and Infrastructure of the MoD:
Mullah Amir Khan Haqqani (20211005)


2. Previous Function:
“Rehbari Shura” Member
Taliban military chief
Minister of Defense (20210907)

3. Biodata:
Mullah Omar's eldest son, Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid Yaqoub Mawlawi Mohammad Yakub Mujahid  was born 1990. Mullah Yuqub is a graduate of a seminary in the Pakistani port city of Karachi.
 

Mullah Yaqoob was in-charge of military commission in 15 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, a Taliban statement said. The military commission is responsible for overseeing all military affairs of the Taliban and is headed by Mullah Ibrahim Sadr.

In addition to being handed the key military position, he has also been included in the Taliban’s top decision-making council, the “Rehbari Shura.”
 

The Taliban have also inducted Mullah Abdul Manan, Mullah Omar’s brother and Yaqoob’s uncle, into the leadership council. The statement added that both Yaqoob and Manan had formally assumed their offices at a meeting of Taliban leaders, members of the leadership council and senior commanders. He opposed to late Mansour's ascension as leader of the Taliban.(20160405)

After Mullah Mansoor was killed in Pakistan on 20160521 when his vehicle was struck by a US drone, Haibatullah Akhundzada has been appointed as the new leader of the Islamic Emirate (Taliban) after a unanimous agreement in the shura (supreme council), and all the members of shura pledged allegiance to him,” the group said in a statement. Sirajuddin Haqqani and Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, son of former leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, will serve as deputies, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s main spokesman, said in the statement.(20160523)

It is rumored that Mullah Yaghoub who came to Peshawar after resigning from Quetta Shura was injured and then killed in Chaman by unknown armed people on Thursday 17, 2019. There is a rumor that he was kidnapped first and then killed. Afghan media reported that a number of Taliban leaders in Pakistan have been arrested after their meeting with Pakistan army commanders.
 

The news of Mullah Yaqub's death however comes just days after he and his uncle Abdul Manan, Mullah Omar's younger brother, were reportedly among more than a dozen Taliban figures who walked out of a leadership meeting held in Quetta. It was at this meeting that the Taliban named Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour as the group's new leader. The display of dissent within the group's secretive core is the clearest sign yet of the challenge Mansour faces in uniting a group already split over whether to pursue peace talks with the Afghan government and facing a new, external threat, Islamic State.
 

Mansour, Mullah Omar's longtime deputy who has been effectively in charge for years, favors talks to bring an end to more than 13 years of war. He recently sent a delegation to inaugural meetings with Afghan officials hosted by Pakistan, hailed as a breakthrough. But Mansour, 50, has powerful rivals within the Taliban who oppose negotiations and have been pushing for Mullah Omar's son Yaqub to take over the movement. Actually, it wasn't a Taliban Leadership Council meeting. Mansour had invited only members of his group to pave the way for his election, said a  sources, a senior member of Taliban in Quetta. And when Yaqub and Manan noticed this, they left the meeting. Among those opposing Mansour's leadership are Mullah Mohammad Rasool and Mullah Hasan Rahmani, two influential Taliban figures with their own power bases who back Yaqub.

Sources claim that Mullah Omar’s son Mullah Yaqoob is still alive but has been placed under house arrest on the newly Taliban head Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor’s orders.The sources further added that Mullah Mansoor decided to keep Mullah Yaqoob under house arrest after he refrained from allegiance to the newly appointed Taliban supreme leader. (20190123)

The son of the Afghan Taliban's late founder Mulla Mohammad Omer has been appointed as the Taliban military chief in a political reshuffle to check the power of his predecessor, senior militant figures have said. The appointment of Mulla Mohammad Yaqoob reins in the former military leader Sardar Ibrahim as the movement closes in on negotiations with the Afghan government. Mulla Yaqoob will keep his previous post as deputy to the movement's overall leader Mulla Haibatullah Akhunzada, but will now also oversee military operations, reports the Telegraph. Zabiullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Taliban, confirmed the appointment but would not comment on the reasons for it.(20200510)

 

Mullah Yaqoob is known to have links to Saudi Arabia, which supports the peace deal. Riyadh is believed to be funneling money to him to help him consolidate power. He also has close connections with the Afghan government and intelligence service— seen as useful in ensuring the peace deal is not derailed.(20200530)

Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, 30, will be head of a newly united military wing, in one of the most significant shake-ups in years.(20200717)

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has denied reports that an assassination attempt was made on the life of acting minister of defense, Mawlawi Mohammad Yaquob Mujahid, during his visit to Nangarhar. Deputy IEA spokesman Inamaullah Samangani said the reports were simply a baseless rumour.

Reports emerged 20220528 that an attempt had been made on Mujahid’s life. The reports emerged after a video went viral on social media. In the video, the deputy minister is seen addressing a gathering of people when a scuffle breaks out. The acting’s minister’s bodyguards quickly surround him and lead him to safety. 

 

On Saturday, the ministry said however that Mujahid had been in Nangarhar on Friday and that he had visited military posts along the Durand Line – the border with Pakistan.(20220528)

According to sources, the Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar had issues with the Haqqani Group. The Haqqani network is an Islamist terror outfit founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani, who emerged as a top Afghan warlord and insurgent commander during the anti-Soviet war. The suspicion is that Mullah Yaqoob, Afghanistan’s defence minister and son of the late Taliban founder Mullah Omar, disclosed Zawahiri’s location during his recent visit to Qatar, said sources.(20220803)

 

 

Last Modified 2024-02-10
Established 2016-05-25