Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, also known as Haji Mawin, has been serving as the Taliban's Minister of Refugees and Repatriation Affairs since early January 2025. He assumed this position following the assassination of his predecessor, Haji Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani, in a December 2024 suicide attack claimed by the ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) group. Prior to assuming this role, he served as Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs from September 2021 to January 2025.
A prominent figure from the Zadran tribe, Mawlawi Kabir is closely affiliated with the Haqqani Network and is considered one of the senior Taliban leaders with strong ties to Pakistan. During the anti-Soviet jihad in the 1980s, he served under Mawlawi Jalaluddin Haqqani, the late founder of the Haqqani Network. Later, in the 1990s, he held senior positions under the first Taliban regime, including deputy head of the Council of Ministers and oversaw affairs in eastern Afghanistan as Governor of Nangarhar province, where he was supported by Mawlawi Sadr Azam. He was also in-charge of Logar province.
Following the Taliban’s fall in 2001, he led the group’s recruitment and guidance commission. Although he remained loyal to Mullah Mohammad Omar, the then-Taliban leader, he was also involved in personal business activities, including reportedly controlling smuggling routes in eastern Afghanistan, and has been linked to corruption and money laundering. According to reports, Mawlawi Kabir is also believed to have been behind the November 2007 attack on Afghan parliamentarians in Baghlan province.
His current role as Minister of Refugees is particularly significant, as it involves managing relations with various foreign groups and fighters in Afghanistan, including al-Qaeda, whom Taliban leaders consider "refugees" and "guests."
Mawlawi Kabir was reportedly born in 1963 in Nahrin district, Baghlan province, and later relocated to Paktia province, though some reports list his date of birth as January 30, 1972. He holds Afghanistan diplomatic passport D0009925 (issued in May 2022, in Kabul). He is among the Taliban leaders sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council under the designation TAi.003. .
