Abdul Salam Hanafi (Pashto: عبدالسلام حنفي, Pashto pronunciation: [ˈabdʊl saˈlɑm hanaˈfi], Uzbek/Dari: عبدالسلام حنفی) is an Afghan Uzbek political and Deobandi-Islamic[1] religious leader who is a senior leader of the Taliban, an acting second deputy prime minister, alongside Abdul Ghani Baradar and Abdul Kabir, of Afghanistan since 2021, and was a central member of the negotiation team in the Qatar office.[2][3] He has also served as deputy minister of education in the Taliban government from 1996–2001. After the Taliban government collapse in 2001, following the United States invasion of Afghanistan, Hanafi was appointed by the Taliban leadership as a top general to oversee the Taliban’s military activities in Jowzjan Province, Northern Afghanistan from May 2007 until sometime in 2008.[4]
Abdul Salam Hanafi عبدالسلام حنفی | |
|---|---|
 Hanafi in 2019 | |
| Second Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Affairs of Afghanistan | |
Acting | |
| Assumed office 7 September 2021 Serving with Abdul Ghani Baradar and Abdul Kabir | |
| Leader | Hibatullah Akhundzada |
| Prime Minister | Hassan Akhund (acting) |
| Preceded by | Hasan Akhund (2001) |
| Deputy Minister of Education | |
| In office c. 1996 – c. 2001 | |
| Minister | Amir Khan Muttaqi |
| Leader | Mohammed Omar |
| Succeeded by | Sakhaullah (2021) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Abdul Salam Hanafi 1969 (age 54–55) Sheberghan, Afghanistan |
| Occupation | Politician, Taliban member |
| Political affiliation | Taliban |
| Ethnicity | Uzbek |
Abdul Salam Hanafi is from Jowzjan Province, which is located in northern Afghanistan.[5] He has studied at various religious seminaries including Jamia Darul Uloom, Karachi, Pakistan. Hanafi is given the esteemed title of Mawlawi, which is a title given to those who studied at Deobandi religious schools or Madrasas.[citation needed] He has also been teaching at Kabul University for some time. Abdul Salam Hanafi has been part of the Taliban movement from the beginning. However, he is generally known among the Taliban as an Alim-e Din (scholar of the faith).[6]
Early life and education
editAn ethnic Uzbek, Hanafi was born in 1969 in the Gardan village in the Darzab District of Jowzjan Province.[7]
He got his initial education under local Islamic scholars, studying subjects such as Arabic grammar, logic, rhetoric, jurisprudence and Qur’anic recitation.[7]
He later moved to Pakistan for further religious studies, studying the traditional Islamic sciences, mathematics, logic and other subjects at Jamia Darul Uloom, Karachi, as well madrasas in cities such as Peshawar, Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan.[7]
Outside religion he also studied computer science, accounting and languages, mastering, outside his native Uzbek, Pashto, Persian, English, Arabic, Urdu, Kyrgyz, Turkmen and Turkish.[7]
After completing his studies he became a teacher in different institutions, for instance teaching Islamic culture for three years at Kabul University’s Faculty of Law and Political Science.[7]
See more
editReferences
edit- ^ "Abdul Salam Hanafi". Counter Extremism Project. Archived from the original on 8 May 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
- ^ "Afghanistan-Taliban Talks Begin in Attempt to End 19 Years of Bloodshed". 12 September 2020. Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
- ^ "Whither Islam in Afghanistan's Political System After the Taliban Talks?". Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
- ^ "Abdul Salam Hanafi". Counter Extremism Project. Archived from the original on 8 May 2022. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
- ^ "Who is who in Taliban's caretaker cabinet?". Pajhwok Afghan News. 9 September 2021. Archived from the original on 18 October 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ "طالبان مذاکراتی ٹیم میں کون کیا ہے؟". BBC News اردو. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
- ^ a b c d e "Translation of the biographies of the Taleban negotiation team". Afghanistan Analysts Network. 21 September 2020. Archived from the original on 13 March 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2022.