Hibatullah Akhundzada

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Lore & Background

According to Taliban sources, Akhundzada was born on 19 October 1967 in the village of Nakhoney in the Panjwayi District of Kandahar Province, then part of the Kingdom of Afghanistan. This information is supported by the International Criminal Court, which states his birth occurred on either 19 or 20 October 1967, in Nakhoney. However, other sources claim he was born in the nearby village of Sperwan. According to the then-director of the Afghan National Directorate of Security, Akhundzada was born c. 1959, though he is believed to be in his 70s as of March 2023. A Pashtun, he belongs to the Nurzai tribe. His father, Muhammad Akhund, was a religious scholar who led prayers at the Malook mosque in Safid Rawan village. Not owning any land or orchards, his family of very modest means depended on what the congregation paid his father in cash or in a portion of their crops. One of Akhundzada's sons was a suicide bomber. The family migrated to Quetta in Balochistan, Pakistan, after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Akhundzada studied at one of the madrassas in Pakistan and earned the title 'Sheikh al-Hadith'. In the 1980s, he was involved in the Islamist resistance to the Soviet military campaign, and according to the Taliban, he fought for Hezb-i Islami Khalis. In the early 1990s, he went back to his village in Kandahar Province. After the United States invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, Akhundzada escaped to Pakistan and sought shelter in Quetta. Because of his knowledge in Islamic law, he became the head of the Taliban's shadow justice system and the acclaimed trainer of a whole generation of Taliban militants who graduated through Quetta. On 16 August 2019, Akhundzada's younger brother, Hafiz Ahmadullah, was killed along with at least three other persons in a bomb blast during Friday prayer at the Khair Ul Madaris mosque in Kuchlak, Quetta, Pakistan. More than 20 people were wounded, including Akhundzada's son and two nephews. Officials of the ousted Afghan government, as well as some Western analysts, believed that Akhundzada was killed along with his brother in the blast, but the Taliban denied this. According to a Pakistan-based Taliban member who met Akhundzada three times until 2020, Akhundzada does not use modern technology, preferring to make phone calls on landlines and communicating with Taliban officials via letters. He reportedly has two wives and has had eleven children, though there has been no official acknowledgement or denial. Since coming to power, Akhundzada has ruled from Kandahar, living in a private rental house in the city, not the Presidential Palace in Kabul.

Reader's Guide

Hibatullah Akhundzada's significance lies in his role as the supreme leader of the Taliban who oversaw the group's return to power in Afghanistan in 2021 after a 20-year insurgency. Unlike many Taliban leaders, he has no combat experience, although one of his sons was a suicide bomber. He was an Islamic judge of the Sharia courts of the 1996–2001 Taliban government and was chosen to lead the Taliban's shadow court system at the start of the insurgency, remaining in that post until being elected supreme leader in May 2016. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda, backed Akhundzada as the Amir al-Mu'minin, which strengthened his jihadist reputation among the Taliban's allies. In 2019, Akhundzada appointed Abdul Ghani Baradar to lead peace talks with the U.S., leading to the 2020 signing of the Doha Agreement that cleared the way for the full withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan. Akhundzada led the Taliban to victory against the Afghan government in a 2021 military offensive while the U.S. withdrawal was still underway, then became Afghanistan's absolute ruler and imposed a totalitarian Islamist government. His rule has been criticized for sweeping infringements on human rights, including the rights of women and girls to work and pursue education. On his orders, the Taliban administration has prevented most teenage girls from returning to secondary school education. In July 2025, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Akhundzada over the alleged persecution of women in Afghanistan. His reclusive nature—with almost no digital footprint except for two photographs and several audio recordings of speeches—and reliance on letters and landlines have made him an enigmatic figure. At least three attempts have been made to assassinate him: a 2012 lecture in Quetta where a man pointed a pistol at close range but the pistol jammed; the 16 August 2019 bomb blast at the Khair Ul Madaris mosque that killed his brother and wounded his son and nephews; and a claimed assassination attempt on 18 May 2024 by the Afghanistan Freedom Front insurgency group.

Did You Know?

• Akhundzada has almost no digital footprint except for two photographs and several audio recordings of speeches.
• One of Akhundzada's sons was a suicide bomber who died carrying out an attack on an Afghan military base in Girishk, Helmand Province in July 2017; Taliban officials said Akhundzada was aware of his son's intention and approved of it.
• During a 2012 lecture in Quetta, a man stood up and pointed a pistol at Akhundzada from close range, but the pistol jammed; Akhundzada reportedly did not move during the incident.
• Akhundzada does not use modern technology, preferring to make phone calls on landlines and communicate with Taliban officials via letters.
• In July 2025, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Akhundzada over the alleged persecution of women in Afghanistan.