The Taliban’s Chief of Kabul Suicide Operations Arrested

Recent unrest, bloody explosions and a spate of bomb attacks in Kabul raised fears that the Taliban, which has intensified attacks in southern and eastern Afghanistan, were expanding their campaign to Kabul. Yet, not long after the latest bomb attacks in the capital, Afghan security officials announced on July 13 the arrest of a Taliban commander who was in charge of the attacks in Kabul, in addition to arresting his operatives. Authorities identified him as Qari Hakim Mullah (Radio Liberty, July 13). The mastermind of suicide operations and bombings in Kabul, Qari Hakim Mullah was living in a house near the heavily-guarded presidential palace for three to four months. When he was arrested, police found an official Taliban decree, several hand grenades, remote controlled bombs and other explosives (Pajhwok Afghan News, July 13).

Qari Hakim Mullah is a 25-year-old Tajik who was born in Charikar city in northern Parwan province. He did not receive academic education, but had participated in madrassas and was taught basic Islamic studies; it is not known which madrasses he attended. During the Taliban regime, he was an active element in the government and was a soldier; his title during the rule of the Taliban, however, is not known.

Before being appointed as Kabul’s Taliban insurgent chief, Qari Hakim Mullah was living in Pakistan, the head of the criminal branch of the Kabul police department, Ali Shah Paktiawal, told The Jamestown Foundation. Paktiawal said that a decree from the Taliban leaders was found with him and that Qari Hakim Mullah had been officially appointed as the chief of suicide and bombing campaigns in Kabul (Terrorism Focus, July 24). When Qari Hakim Mullah entered Kabul, he was leading 13 people. Just one day after the detention of Qari Hakim Mullah on July 13, one of Hakim Mullah’s men was arrested while planning a bomb attack on the culture and youth affairs ministry in the center of Kabul, said Paktiawal.

The majority of the bombs were prepared and made for Qari Hakim Mullah outside of Kabul. As Paktiawal stated, they discovered Qari Hakim Mullah’s location through their surveillance of the transportation of explosive devices. “The explosive devices were transferred within Afghanistan’s borders and handed over in Midan-Wardak province west of Kabul,” the police official told The Jamestown Foundation. “We followed the trail of the explosives and in Kabul our forces found Qari Hakim Mullah’s house.” Qari Hakim Mullah was working as an executive commander for the Taliban in Kabul. All of his forces in Kabul and other provinces have been apprehended. Following his detention in mid-July, Kabul has not faced any further serious attacks.