Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada is the current Taliban Emir and the third Supreme Leader of the Taliban's Islamic Emirate, a position he has held since 2016.
During the Afghan resistance against Soviet forces, he reportedly fought alongside Haji Mohammad Akhund and the Hezb-e-Islami faction led by veteran jihadi commander, Mawlawi Mohammad Younus Khalis. Following the U.S.-led removal of the Taliban from power in 2001, Akhundzada withdrew into religious scholarship and assumed senior judicial roles within the insurgency, including as a judge and ultimately becoming head of the Taliban’s judiciary. As the group’s highest clerical authority, he issued numerous fatwas (religious rulings) that justified various aspects of the Taliban operations, including the use of suicide attacks. His son, Hafiz Abdul Rahman, reportedly carried out a suicide attack against Afghan forces in Helmand province in 2017.
In 2016, Ayman al Zawahiri, then leader of al-Qaeda, pledged allegiance to Akhundzada, a pledge that remains unbroken. Since the Taliban's return to power in August 2021, Akhundzada has consolidated religious and political authority, shaping the regime's policy actions through a steady stream of decrees. Between July 2022 and November 2023, he issued more than 550 decrees and edicts covering a wide range of topics, including general amnesty, Islamic governance, public administration, and imposing stringent limitations on women’s rights and personal freedoms, including their access to education and employment. His directives also bolstered the authority of the morality police and addressed local drug production and counternarcotics activities.
Despite his dominant role and unchallenged influence, Akhundzada remains an intensely secretive figure, with no verified recent public appearances or authenticated images (his photograph in this profile is not current).
Despite his central role as the Taliban’s emir, Haibatullah Akhundzada is not currently listed on either the United States or the United Nations sanctions lists. However, on July 8, 2025, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued arrest warrants for both Akhundzada and his close confidante and current Taliban Chief Justice, Sheikh Hakim Haqqani, charging them of crimes and systematic persecution of women and girls on the basis of gender. Both men had previously been indicted on the same charges in late January 2025.
In response, the Taliban's chief spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid dismissed the ICC's action, declaring that the Taliban regime "does not recognize any entity called the International Criminal Court, nor does it hold any obligation to comply with its rulings."
