Who was Mullah Umar?

Mullah Umar was born around 1959 in Nodeh village near Kandahar to a family of poor, landless peasants who were members of the Hotak tribe, the Ghilzai branch of Pashtuns. His tribal and social status was non existent.

During the '80s jihad his family moved to Tarinkot in Urozgan province which was one of the most backward and inaccessible regions of the country. Looking for a job, Omar moved to Singesar village in Mewand district of Kandahar where he opened a small madrassa.

Omar joined Hizb e Islami and fought under Nek Muhammad against the Najibullah regime b/w '89 and '92. He was wounded four times, once in the right eye which was permanently blinded. He had three wives and a total of five children. A tall,well-built man with a long, black beard..

..and a black turban, Omar was chosen as the leader of Taliban for his piety and unswerving belief in Islam. Taliban said he was chosen by God. There are a lot of myths to explain how he mobilized a small group of Taliban against the barbaric warlords. Most credible one is that..

..In the spring of '94, Singesar neighbours came to tell him that a commander had abducted two teenage girls are their heads have been shaved, they had been taken to a military camp where they were repeatedly raped. Omar enlisted some 30 talibs who had only 16 rifles.

They attacked the base, recovered the girls and hanged the commanders from the barrel of a tank. Few months later, two commanders confronted each other in Kandahar on dispute over a young boy whom both men wanted to sodomise. In the fight that followed, civilians were killed.

Omar's group freed the boy and public appeals started coming in for the Taliban to help out. Omar emerged as a Robin Hood figure against the rapacious commanders. His prestige grew b/c he asked for no reward from those whom he helped.

Within few months, Taliban seized control of 12 of Afghanistan's 31 provinces. On 4 April '96, Taliban nominated Omar as the 'Amir ul Momineen'. He appeared on the roof a building in centre of the city in Kandahar, wrapped in the cloak of Prophet Muhammad SAW.

As Omar wrapped and unwrapped the cloak around his body and allowed it to to flip in the wind, he was rapturously applauded with slogans of Amir ul Momineen. No Afghan had adopted the title since 1834 when King Dost Muhammad Khan assumed the title against the Sikh kingdom.

By Sept '96, Taliban took control of Kabul. Omar set up a six man shura headed by Mullah M Rabbani to rule Kabul. He continued to live in his sanctuary in Kandahar and visited the capital Kabul only twice. That's the reason he never left his country even after the US invasion.

No leader in the world was surrounded by as much secrecy and mystery as Mullah Muhammad Umar.