Mullah Abdul Bari Gul Akhund, a seasoned Taliban military leader, assumed the role of Deputy Commander of the 205 Al-Badr Military Corps in Kandahar province in October 2022. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Chief of Staff within the same military corps in Kandahar province from March to October 2022. In the 1990s, reports indicate that he served as the Governor of Helmand province under the Taliban's rule. Subsequently, after 2001, he held the position of the Taliban’s shadow governor in southern Uruzgan province. In 2008, Abdul Bari Gul Akhund was captured by the Australian Special Forces, reportedly serving as a "key facilitator in the provision of equipment, money, and foreign fighters to extremist operations and coordinated the actions of individual insurgent cells" in Uruzgan province. He was also involved in facilitating the development of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and oversaw their deployment across the province.
