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Dadullah

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For other uses, seeMullah Dadullah FrontandDadullah (Pakistani Taliban).
Dadullah Akhund
دادالله آخوند
BornAround 1967[1]
Uruzgan Province,Afghanistan[1]
DiedMay 11, 2007 (aged 40)
Asadullah Khan Akah Drop,Garmsir,Helmand,Afghanistan[2]
AllegianceTaliban
Years of service1994–2007
RankCommander
Battles/warsSoviet–Afghan War
Afghan civil war
War in Afghanistan

Dadullah(1966 – May 11, 2007) was theTaliban'smost senior militant commander inAfghanistanuntil his death in 2007.[3]He was also known asMaulaviorMullahDadullah Akhund(Pashto:ملا دادالله آخوند). He also earned the nickname ofLang,meaning "lame" (as inTimur Lang), because of a leg he lost during fighting.[4]

An ethnicPashtunfrom theKakartribe ofKandahar Province,he was known as "The Butcher", even among fellow Taliban members, for his brutality and outbursts of violence, notably in cutting men's heads off, as per some, even being stripped of his command at least twice byMullah Omardue to his extreme behavior.[5]

According to theUnited Nations'list of entities belonging to or associated with the Al-Qaeda organization,he had been the Taliban's Minister of Construction.[6]He was killed by British and Germanspecial forces.

Early life

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Dadullah belonged to theKakartribe ofPashtuns.Educated in amadrassainBalochistan,[7]he was a follower ofDeobandiSunni Islam.[8]He lost a leg while fighting with theAfghan mujahideenagainstSoviet occupationin the 1980s.[9]He eventually got aprosthetic limbfrom a hospital inKarachi.[10]

He was a member of the Taliban's 10-man leadership council before theUS-led invasion in 2001.He was reportedly a close aide toMohammed Omar,the leader of the Taliban.

During theAfghan civil war,Dadullah gained a reputation as a stern, devout and ruthless commander. Between 1997–1998, he led around 6000 Taliban troops who were besieged inKunduz.As a commander, he was known for making quick decisions and being strict with his soldiers. In one instance, he shot one of his own men who was running away from the battlefield.[11]In 1999–2000, he led the suppression of a revolt byHazarasinBamyanprovince.[12]In January 2001, Dadullah's forces fought a Hazara insurgency in theYakaolangarea. On March 10, 2001, he supervised the destruction of theBuddhas of Bamiyan,which had been ordered by Omar.[13]When the Taliban regime fell in December 2001, Dadullah escaped capture byNorthern Allianceforces inKunduz province.[9]

Fight post 2001

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Following rumors that Dadullah may be headed to recapture the city with as many as 8,000 Taliban fighters, after the November 2001Battle of Mazar-i-Sharif,a thousand American ground forces were airlifted into the city.[14]

He allegedly participated (by giving orders via cell phone) in the murder of Ricardo Munguía on March 27, 2003. In 2005 he was sentencedin absentiato life in prison, along with three others, byPakistanfor the attempted murder of a member of Pakistan's parliament,Muhammad Khan Sheraniof theJamiat Ulema-i-Islamparty. Sherani, an opponent of the Taliban, survived anIEDattack in his home constituency ofBalochistanin November, 2004.[15]

Dadullah masterminded the2006 Taliban offensiveand had earned a notorious reputation amongst NATO forces by the end of the year. Some Americans nicknamed him the "Afghan Zarqawi," drawing parallels toAbu Musab al-Zarqawi,the founder ofAl-Qaeda in Iraq.The comparison stemmed from their similarities in galvanizing the insurgency in their respective countries, their vocal support forAl-QaedaandOsama bin Laden,as well as their brutal conduct, which stirred controversy even amongst their own hardline supporters.[16]A "Western intelligence source" claimed Dadullah may have been operating out ofQuetta,Pakistan.[17]Others, including the Pakistani government, claimed he was operating nearKandahar,Afghanistan. It was in southern Afghanistan that he was later killed.[18]In 2006, he claimed to have 12,000 men and to control 20 districts in the former Taliban heartland in the southern provinces of Kandahar,Helmand,ZabulandOrūzgān.[19]

Dadullah had reportedly been a central figure in the recruitment of Pakistani nationals to the Taliban[12]and was also one of the main Taliban spokesmen, frequently meeting with Al-Jazeera television reporters.[20]In the summer of 2006, he was reportedly sent by Omar toSouth Waziristanto convince local Pashtun insurgents to agree to atruce with Pakistan.[21]In October 2006 it was rumored[22]that the Afghan government was considering giving control of its defense ministry over to Dadullah as part of a reconciliation plan with the Taliban to stop the ongoing insurgency.

Dadullah was linked to massacres of Shi'a, the scorched earth policy of Shi'a villages in 2001 (which he boasted about once on the radio), and thesummary executionof men suspected of throwing hand grenades into his compound in 2001 (they were hanged at one of the main roundabouts). According to an interview he gave to theBBC,he had hundreds ofsuicide bomberswaiting for his orders to launch an offensive againstNATOtroops.[3]

Dadullah oversaw Taliban negotiations for the hostage-taking of Italian reporterDaniele Mastrogiacomoand his two Afghan assistants in March 2007. Mastrogiacomo's driver was later beheaded. Mastrogiacomo was reportedly exchanged for five senior Taliban leaders, including Ustad Yasir,Abdul Latif Hakimi,Mansoor Ahmad, a brother of Dadullah, and two commanders identified as Hamdullah and Abdul Ghaffar. The Taliban threatened to kill the interpreter Ajmal Naqshbandi, one of Mastrogiacomo's two Afghan assistants, on March 29, 2007, unless theKabulgovernment freed two Taliban prisoners.[23]Ajmal was later beheaded after the Afghan government refused to free any more Taliban prisoners. According toAsadullah Khalid,the governor ofKandahar Province,"Mullah Dadullah was the backbone of the Taliban. He was a brutal and cruel commander who killed and beheaded Afghan civilians."[24]

Death

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Afghan officials reported on May 13, 2007 that Dadullah was killed the previous evening in Helmand Province in a raid by joint Afghan and NATO forces known to have included C Squadron,Special Boat Service(SBS), a British special forces unit, after he left his "sanctuary" for a meeting with fellow commanders, in southern Afghanistan.[18]Some reports indicate Dadullah was killed in the Gershk district, while others claim he was killed near the Sangin and Nari Saraj district.[25]Asadullah Khalid, the governor of Kandahar province, put the body of Dadullah on display at his official residence. The body appeared to have three bullet wounds, two in the torso and one in the back of the head. The Taliban namedMansoor Dadullah(Mullah Bakht), Dadullah's younger brother, as his replacement.[26]

On June 7, 2007, the Taliban said that Dadullah's body had been returned to them, in exchange for four Afghan health ministry workers who had been held hostage, and had been buried by his family in Kandahar. The Taliban said that a fifth hostage had been beheaded because Dadullah's body was not returned quickly enough.[27][28]

Post-death

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Dadullah's death severely weakened the Taliban's fighting capabilities, as he had been their most prominent commander up to that point. Following his death, many Taliban leaders retreated to Pakistan, and seven of his senior commanders abandoned the insurgency entirely. However, some leaders formed the newMullah Dadullah Frontin response to his killing.[29]This group became notorious for assassinating Afghan officials and launchingsuicide attacksagainst Afghan police posts. Over time, the Dadullah Front came to be known as one of the most extremist factions within the Taliban.[30]

Because of his brutal reputation, Dadullah remained a popular, if controversial, figure amongst the Taliban ranks after his death. One Taliban commander later recalled in a 2014 interview:

When he was alive, half of Helmand was in our hands, as well as many districts of Kandahar province. He was a very cruel person; all the people were afraid of him. No one would ever dare to wrong him. He would tell people that either they captured an area or they were not to return to him.[31]

See also

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Wikiquote has quotations related toMullah Dadullah.

References

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Wikisourcehas original text related to this article:
  1. ^abFrank Shanty (17 August 2012).Counterterrorism: From the Cold War to the War on Terror.ABC-CLIO. p. 275.ISBN9781598845457.
  2. ^Qazizai, Fazelminallah; Sands, Chris (August 2022)."Faith and Vengeance: the Islamic State's War in Afghanistan".newlinesmag.New Lines Magazine.Retrieved27 November2022.
  3. ^abAfghan Taleban commander killed,BBC News,May 13, 2007
  4. ^Malkasian, Carter (2021).The American War in Afghanistan: A History.Oxford University Press. pp. 116–117.
  5. ^Coghlan, Tom (2012). "The Taliban in Helmand: An Oral History". In Giustozzi, Antonio (ed.).Decoding the New Taliban: Insights from the Afghan Field.Hurst Publishers. p. 138.
  6. ^John R. Bolton(2003)."Denied Persons Pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution".United States Federal Registry.RetrievedNovember 3,2010.
  7. ^Silinsky, Mark (2014).The Taliban: Afghanistan's Most Lethal Insurgents.ABC-Clio. p. 121.
  8. ^Deobandi Islam: The Religion of the Taliban U. S. Navy Chaplain Corps, 15 October 2001
  9. ^abThe Taleban's most feared commander,BBC News,May 19, 2006
  10. ^Yousafzai, Sami (7 February 2006)."In the Footsteps of Zarqawi".Newsweek.Archivedfrom the original on 2013-11-23.
  11. ^Malkasian, Carter (2021).The American War in Afghanistan: A History.Oxford University Press. pp. 116–117.ISBN978-0-19-755077-9.
  12. ^abThe Specter of Mullah DadullahArchived2006-07-11 at theWayback Machine,afghaJune 13, 2006
  13. ^Maley, William (2002).The Afghanistan Wars.Palgrave Macmillan.pp. 240–241.ISBN978-0-333-80291-5.
  14. ^Khan, M. Ismail.Dawn,Mazar falls to Alliance: Taliban says they're regrouping,November 10, 2001
  15. ^Fugitive Taleban leader sentenced,BBC News,December 29, 2005
  16. ^Malkasian, Carter (2021).The American War in Afghanistan: A History.Oxford University Press. p. 171.ISBN978-0-19-755077-9.
  17. ^Across the border from Britain's troops, Taliban rises again,The Guardian,May 27, 2006
  18. ^abTaliban commander Mullah Dadullah killed,Channel 4,May 13, 2007
  19. ^Afghanistan: Taleban's second coming,BBC News,June 2, 2006
  20. ^Captured Taliban leader appears on Al-Jazeera[permanent dead link],The Jerusalem Post,May 29, 2006
  21. ^Omar role in truce reinforces fears that Pakistan 'caved in' to Taliban,The Daily Telegraph,September 24, 2006
  22. ^Taliban Rising,The Nation,October 12, 2006
  23. ^Taliban leader threatens to kill Afghan hostage,Reuters,March 29, 2007
  24. ^Top Taliban commander killed in Afghanistan,The Daily Telegraph,May 13, 2007
  25. ^"Mullah Dadullah, Taliban top commander, killed in Helmand".Long War Journal. 13 May 2007.
  26. ^Taliban Names Replacement After Death of Top Commander,CBC News,May 14, 2007
  27. ^"Taleban handed commander's body",BBC News, June 7, 2007.
  28. ^The Blotter: Afghan Trade: Four Hostages for Body of Dead Taliban
  29. ^Giustozzi, Antonio (1 April 2022).The Taliban at War: 2001 - 2021.Oxford University Press. p. 68.ISBN978-0-19-766164-2.
  30. ^Nordland, Rod (19 May 2012)."In Afghanistan, New Group Begins Campaign of Terror".The New York Times.Retrieved23 May2024.
  31. ^Giustozzi, Antonio (1 April 2022).The Taliban at War: 2001 - 2021.Oxford University Press. p. 38.ISBN978-0-19-766164-2.
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