Haibatullah Akhundzada: The Taliban Leader No One Can Find
Afghanistan's supreme leader rules from the shadows. Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, Haibatullah Akhundzada has remained almost entirely absent from public view. Foreign governments meet Taliban ministers, receive delegations and negotiate with the movement's representatives. Yet publicly verifiable evidence of direct meetings between Akhundzada and foreign officials remains extraordinarily scarce. This is more than an unusual feature of Taliban leadership. It is a question of political accountability. The man presented as Afghanistan's supreme religious and political authority remains largely inaccessible, even as his regime seeks international recognition and foreign governments expand their relations with it. Meanwhile, the Taliban has imposed a system of repression that has stripped Afghan women and girls of fundamental rights, excluded women from public life and suppressed political opposition. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warr...
