Mullah Noorullah Noori is a senior member of the Taliban organization, who assumed his current position as Minister of Borders and Tribal Affairs in September 2021. During the 1990s, Noori served as Governor of the northern Balkh province under the Taliban regime and was later responsible for managing affairs in the country's northern region under the Taliban regime. Noori's history dates back to the 1980s when he fought alongside Mawlawi Nabi Mohammadi's Harakat-i-Inqilab-i-Islami jihadist party against the Soviets. Following the U.S. ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001, he spent 12 years in captivity in the Guantanamo detention facility after being captured by U.S. forces. His release in 2014 was part of the high-profile exchange, commonly known as the "Taliban Five," involving four other senior Taliban members in return for the release of U.S. sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. Upon release, Noori assumed a key role as a member of the Taliban’s political office and negotiating team in Doha, Qatar. According to his Guantanamo file, Noorullah Noori reportedly “fought alongside al-Qaeda as a Taliban military general against the [former] Northern Alliance” and also “hosted al-Qaeda commanders.” He is on the UN sanctions list under the designation TAi.089.
