*** Welcome to piglix ***

Muhammad Rasul

Mullah
Muhammad Rasul
Mullah Muhammad Rasul.jpg
Mullah Muhammad Rasul speaks during a gathering in Farah province, Afghanistan November 3, 2015.
Governor of Nimruz Province for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
In office
1996–2001
Succeeded by Abdul Karim Brahui
Personal details
Born 1965
Kandahar Province, Kingdom of Afghanistan
Religion Islam
Military service
Allegiance
Years of service 1994–present
Rank Supreme leader

Mullah Muhammad Rasul is the leader of a Taliban group in Afghanistan. He was a Taliban-appointed governor of Nimruz Province, Afghanistan. Rasul exerted economic pressures on ethnic and religious minorities unpopular with the Taliban, and made a considerable fortune controlling cross-border drug-smuggling through Nimruz.

Rasul is believed to have been born in the mid 1960s in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.

Rasul was the Governor for Nimruz Province while the Taliban were in power during the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. He is said to have enjoyed close relations with former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, and is considered to have been an "old and trusted friend" to him.

Rasul and his functionaries fled Nimroz following U.S. airstrikes on 13 November 2001, and his office was taken over by Abdul Karim Brahui. After the Invasion of Afghanistan, Rasul became the Taliban's shadow governor of Farah Province. He was also a member of the secretive Quetta Shura

In 2015, Rasul broke away from the main Taliban leadership and established his own group, the High Council of Afghanistan Islamic Emirate. The split was a result of a disagreement over the ascension of Mullah Akhtar Mansour as leader of the Taliban. Rasul's followers accuse Mansour of hijacking the movement due to personal greed. Rasul says that he and his supporters tried to persuade him to step down and let the new leader be chosen by the Taliban council, but Mansour refused.

The High Council is suspected to be a client of Iran. They have demanded that foreign troops leave Afghanistan as a precursor for peace talks. Rasul's Taliban group has voiced support for the actions of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State abroad however, he has stated that neither group is welcome in Afghanistan.


...
Wikipedia

...