Mullah Hameedullah Akhundzada was appointed First Deputy Minister of National Defense in mid-February 2026. He previously served as Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation from late 2021 to February 2026.
During the Taliban’s first regime in the 1990s, he headed the state-owned Ariana Airlines. After 2001, he became a senior member of the Taliban’s intelligence commission and played a key role in managing affairs within the group's military training centers.
In an August 2022 press briefing in Kabul, he highlighted achievements of the civil aviation ministry he then led, including the restoration and operationalization of 26 airports and broader efforts to develop Afghanistan’s transportation infrastructure. By mid-2025, the ministry reported operating international flights to many countries, including Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iran, Russia, Turkey, India, China, Uzbekistan, and Kuwait. It also oversaw more than 14,000 flights from Afghan airports in 2024 and over 96,000 transit flights through Afghan airspace. Additionally, the ministry signed bilateral transportation agreements with Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Russia, and issued around 24,000 road transport licenses to Afghan and Pakistani drivers across Kabul, Kandahar, Quetta, and Peshawar.
He reportedly holds an Afghanistan diplomatic passport D0009721 (issued October 12, 2021; expires October 12, 2026), listing a birth date of March 22, 1973, in Uruzgan province. He is listed under the United Nations sanctions regime under designation TAi.118.
