Hibatullah Akhundzada

Place of Birth: Sperwan, Nakhuni, Panjwai District, Kandahar, Kingdom of Afghanistan

Date of Birth: c. 1953-1961

Ethnicity: Pashtun Afghan

Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, or Haibatullah Akhunzada, is an Afghan Deobandi cleric. He has been Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, since 15 August, 2021. He has led the Taliban since 2016, and is known for his fatwas on Taliban matters. He was previously Head of the Military Court of Kabul, from c. 1995 to c. 2001, Head of the Eastern Zone Military Court, from c. 1996 to c. 2001, Chief Justice of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, from c. 2001 to 25 May, 2016, First Deputy Leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, from 29 July, 2015 to 25 May, 2016, and Supreme Leader “in exile,” from 21 May, 2016 to 15 August, 2021. Hibatullah appointed the representative who reached the 2020 agreement with the U.S. that led to withdrawal of all NATO/U.S. troops from the country; Hibatullah then led the Taliban to victory against the Afghan government in 2021. Afghanistan under Hibatullah has been described as a totalitarian Islamist state, with numerous human rights violations, particularly women’s and girls’.

His father, Muhammad Akhund, was a religious scholar, and an imam at the Malook mosque in Safid Rawan village. Hibatullah is of the Nurzai section of the Durrani/Abdali tribe. After the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, his family moved to Quetta, Balochistan province, Pakistan. Studying at a madrasa in Pakistan, Hibatullah earned the title “Sheikh al-Hadith.” He later returned to Afghanistan to fight the Soviet forces there throughout the 1980s.

Hibatullah is a Sunni Muslim.