He was an Islamic judge of the Sharia courts of the 1996–2001 Taliban government. He was chosen to lead the Taliban’s shadow court system at the start of the Taliban insurgency, and remained in that post until being elected supreme leader of the Taliban in May 2016.

Jan 23, 2025 · Hibatullah Akhundzada: Afghanistan's reclusive Taliban leader Kabul (AFP) – Secluded in his stronghold in southern Afghanistan, reclusive Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is the ...

Sep 7, 2021 · Hibatullah Akhundzada became the supreme commander of the Taliban in May 2016, and is now leader of the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Sep 7, 2021 · Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, 55, was already the radical fundamentalist group's appointed leader. That's a position he secured in May 2016, days after the second leader in the Taliban's...

Jan 23, 2025 · Secluded in his stronghold in southern Afghanistan, reclusive Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is the cornerstone of the movement that has ruled the country unchallenged since...

Jun 17, 2024 · Hibatullah Akhundzada gave his warning in a sermon to mark the festival of Eid al-Adha at a mosque in southern Kandahar province, weeks before a Taliban delegation goes to Doha, Qatar for U.N.-hosted talks on Afghanistan.

6 days ago · Afghanistan's ruling Taliban on Friday condemned the International Criminal Court's request for arrest warrants against their supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, and his chief justice for ...

Apr 13, 2023 · The Taliban's supreme leader says Afghanistan will be “ruined" without justice, in a rare audio message shared on social media. Hibatullah Akhundzada, an Islamic scholar, almost never appears in public and hardly ever leaves the Taliban heartland in …

Feb 17, 2023 · Behind this powerful entity is a reclusive supreme leader, Mawlavi Hibatullah Akhundzada. Since the group came back to power with the U.S.-led military coalition withdrawal a year and a...

Jan 23, 2025 · Akhundzada became the supreme commander of the Taliban in 2016, and is now leader of the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.