Hibatullah Akhundzada

Supreme Leader of Afghanistan since 2021

Fame64.3
Momentum14.7
Wikipedia132.3K

Claim profile

Source-basedStable

Born 1967 · age 59

PoliticiansPolitician

Verify ownership in 2 minutes. Keeps the profile accurate and discoverable.

Wikipedia
67 languages
Cross-language footprint
Age
59
Born 1967

Summary

Updated 2026-09-07

He has almost no digital footprint—two photographs, a handful of audio recordings—yet he rules Afghanistan as supreme leader of the Taliban, having led the movement to victory over U.S.-backed forces in 2021 and imposed a totalitarian Islamist government that has drawn an ICC arrest warrant for the persecution of women.

Biography

About

Born 19 October 1967, Akhundzada rose not through combat but through Islamic jurisprudence, serving as a Sharia judge during the Taliban's 1996–2001 government. When the Taliban insurgency began, he was chosen to lead its shadow court system, issuing fatwas that shaped the movement's religious backbone. In May 2016 he was elected supreme leader, a position reinforced when al-Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri backed him as Amir al-Mu'minin. In 2019 he appointed Abdul Ghani Baradar to lead peace talks with the U.S., culminating in the 2020 Doha Agreement that set the terms for American withdrawal. While…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Hibatullah Akhundzada

Hibatullah Akhundzada

saidSep 2025

During Mullah Omar's rule, there was no internet, yet affairs progressed smoothly.

— Afghanistan International, quoted by a Taliban official who met with him, September 2025

Hibatullah Akhundzada

said13 Nov 2022

For those cases that have met the Sharia conditions of and , you are obliged to implement Hudud and Qisas. This is the order of the Sharia and my order and it is obligatory.

— Instructions issued to judges (original text), 13 November 2022

Hibatullah Akhundzada

said22 Jun 2022

We ask God to save our poor people from trials and harms.

— Amir al-Mu'minin's message of condolence to the victims of an earthquake in Paktika and Khost, 22 June 2022

Hibatullah Akhundzada

said2021

A woman is not property, but a noble and free human being. No one can give her to anyone in exchange for a peace deal and/or to end animosity.

— Hibatullah Akhundzada (2021) cited in: "Taliban leader issues decree saying women are not property" in United News of India, 3 December

Hibatullah Akhundzada

saidundated

I am not here to fulfill your [foreigners'] wishes, nor are they acceptable to me. I cannot compromise on Sharia to work with you or even move a step forward.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Gallery