The Complex Power Dynamics In Afghanistan: Unraveling The Intricate Web Of Control

Afghanistan is currently ruled by the Taliban, which seized power in 2021 and established a totalitarian emirate within an Islamic theocracy. The Taliban's supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has authority over all political, military, and religious decisions and appoints individuals to key positions within the cabinet. The country's politics are based on internal Taliban policy debates and power struggles, with dissent not permitted. The Taliban has historically viewed the Quran as its constitution and rules by decree, interpreting Sharia law according to the Hanafi school. The current caretaker Prime Minister is Maulvi Abdul Kabir, who replaced Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund in 2023.

The Taliban's Supreme Leader

Akhundzada was born in the village of Sperwan in the Panjwayi District of Kandahar Province, Kingdom of Afghanistan. His family migrated to Quetta in the Balochistan province of Pakistan after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. He studied at a madrassa in Pakistan and earned the title "Sheikh al-Hadith". In the 1980s, he was involved in the Islamist resistance to the Soviet military campaign in Afghanistan.

Akhundzada joined the Taliban in 1994 and became one of its early members. He served as an Islamic judge of the Sharia courts during the Taliban's first rule from 1996 to 2001. 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 in May 2016. He succeeded Akhtar Mansour, who was killed in a US drone strike.

Akhundzada led the Taliban to victory against the US-backed Afghan government in 2021 and imposed a totalitarian Islamic government. He has issued numerous decrees that have profoundly reshaped the government and daily life in Afghanistan, implementing a strict interpretation of the Hanafi school of Sharia law. He has placed sweeping restrictions on the rights of women and girls, including their access to education and employment.

Akhundzada maintains a low profile and rules from the shadows, surrounded by tight security. He communicates through his three deputies and has rarely been seen in public since the Taliban seized control of Kabul in 2021. He is known to have surrounded himself with around 2,500 suicide bombers for his protection.

The Rahbari Shura (Leadership Council)

The Rahbari Shura works alongside the Supreme Leader to govern Afghanistan and make decisions on policy and leadership. The council was also responsible for appointing Akhundzada as the new supreme leader after the death of his predecessor. However, it is unclear if the council will continue to exercise this power following the Fall of Kabul in 2021.

The current setup of the Rahbari Shura governing in conjunction with the Supreme Leader is reminiscent of how the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was governed from 1996 to 2001, with Mohammad Omar as Head of the Supreme Council. The system has also been compared to the clerical system of rule in Iran, led by the Supreme Leader. Additionally, the Rahbari Shura served as the executive body of the Taliban during the War in Afghanistan, determining the overall direction of the group as an insurgency.

The Council of Ministers, which is appointed by the Rahbari Shura, has been described as powerless in practice, with all political power vested in the Supreme Leader and the Leadership Council. The Taliban's chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, announced the current caretaker cabinet on September 7, 2021. The cabinet is headed by Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund, who was selected as a compromise candidate between moderate and hardline factions of the Taliban. There are also two Deputy Prime Ministers, Abdul Ghani Baradar and Abdul Salam Hanafi.

The Rahbari Shura's role in governing Afghanistan and appointing key cabinet members under the Supreme Leader demonstrates its significant influence and power within the country's political structure.

The Council of Ministers

The Rahbari Shura is a 26-member council that assists the Supreme Leader with the governance of Afghanistan. The council appoints individuals to key positions within the Cabinet, including the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of the Interior. The current Prime Minister of Afghanistan is Maulvi Abdul Kabir, who was appointed by the Taliban in May 2023. He replaced Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, who had been in charge of the interim government since the Taliban seized control of the country in August 2021.

The Taliban's caretaker cabinet, announced on September 7, 2021, includes two Deputy Prime Ministers, Abdul Ghani Baradar and Abdul Salam Hanafi, and a total of 33 ministers. All of the ministers named were men, with two being Tajik, and one, Abdul Salam Hanafi, being Uzbek. The rest of the ministers, as well as the Supreme Leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, are from the Pashtun ethnic group, the country's largest ethnicity.

The Taliban has historically excluded women from public life and restricted their movement and rights. In May 2023, the Taliban decreed that women must cover their faces in public and remain in their homes except in cases of necessity. They are banned from travelling long distances without a male chaperone and are increasingly being denied access to essential services if unchaperoned. The Taliban has also banned girls from attending school past the sixth grade and barred women from working most jobs outside the home.

The Taliban's policies and interpretation of Sharia law have resulted in human rights violations against women and girls, and decades of progress on gender equality and women's rights have been wiped out.

The Taliban's new government

The most senior role in the cabinet went to Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, who was named acting prime minister. Akhund is a close aide to the Taliban's late founder, Mullah Omar, and is on a United Nations sanctions list. Abdul Ghani Baradar, the head of the Taliban's political office, was named as Akhund's deputy, along with Mawlawi Abdul Salam Hanafi, a prominent Uzbek member of the negotiating team.

The top security posts went to Sirajuddin Haqqani and Mawlawi Muhammad Yaqoub, who were appointed acting minister of the interior and acting minister of defence, respectively. Haqqani is the son of the founder of the Haqqani network, designated as a "terrorist" organisation by the United States, and is one of the FBI's most wanted men. Yaqoub is the oldest son of the Taliban's founding leader, Mullah Omar.

The Taliban has historically viewed the Quran as its constitution and ruled by decree, with judges and fighters deciding how to apply Sharia law on the spot. The current government has been described as interim, with the Taliban stating that a new constitution would be drafted through an open consultative process.

The Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan has been marked by a systematic exclusion of women and girls from public life, despite initial promises that women would be allowed to exercise their rights within Sharia law. The Taliban has banned girls from attending school past the sixth grade and barred women from working most jobs outside the home. Women's movement and appearance in public have been heavily restricted, with the Taliban decreeing that they must cover their faces and remain in their homes except in cases of necessity.

The Taliban's founder

Mullah Omar, the founder of the Taliban, was an Afghan militant leader who was born in 1960 in the village of Chah-i-Himmat in the Khakrez District of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. He came from a line of Islamic scholars and teachers and was educated at local madrasas in Afghanistan.

After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Omar joined the Afghan mujahideen to fight in the Soviet-Afghan War. During the war, he served as an important military general and lost his right eye in an explosion.

In 1994, Omar, along with religious students in Kandahar, formed the Taliban, which emerged victorious against other Afghan factions by 1996. Omar led the Taliban to form a Sunni Islamic theocracy, known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which strictly enforced Sharia law.

Under Omar's leadership, the Taliban introduced an extremely austere version of Islamic rule, barring women from public life and introducing harsh public punishments, including executions and floggings. The Taliban also cracked down on crime, outlawed the cultivation of poppies for the opium trade, and curtailed the education and employment of women.

In 2001, following the September 11 attacks on the United States by al-Qaeda, the Taliban refused to extradite al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to the United States. This prompted the United States to launch a series of military operations in Afghanistan, leading to the overthrow of the Taliban government and Omar's flight from Kandahar.

Omar remained in hiding until his death in 2013 from tuberculosis. The Taliban kept his death a secret for two years, only revealing it in 2015. In 2022, the Taliban revealed Omar's burial site in the Suri district of Zabul province, Afghanistan.

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