Watch | Who is Mullah Hassan Akhund, Afghanistan's new PM?

A video explainer on Mullah Hassan Akhund, Afghanistan's new PM

September 09, 2021 06:09 pm | Updated September 14, 2021 10:18 am IST

The Taliban announced on September 7 that Mullah Hasan Akhund has been appointed interim prime minister of Afghanistan.

Who is Mullah Hasan Akhund? And What does his appointment mean for Afghanistan?

 has been an influential figure in Afghanistan since the inception of the militant group in the 1990s. But unlike other Taliban leaders from that period, he was not involved in the Soviet-Afghan war of the 1980s. While Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar and his deputies fought with the mujahedeen, Akhund did not. Instead, he is seen much more as a religious influence in the Taliban.

He served on the Taliban’s shura councils, the traditional decision-making body made up of religious scholars and mullahs — an honorific given to those trained in Islamic theology. Akhund is probably best known as one of the architects of the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan, the giant cliff statues destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.