With the Taliban's imminent announcement of a new government to rule its Islamic emirate and the prediction that its amir Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada will lead the emirate, I thought it was fitting with a little bio of the future leader of #Afghanistan.
While I'm no expert on Haibatullah, I managed to gather some information over the years.

A Pashtun born in 1961 in Panjwai district in Kandahar Province, Haibatullah grew up in a very religious family with his father occupying the position of imam in the local village mosque.
The young Haibatullah initially studied under his father, but after the Soviet invasion the family fled to Quetta where Haibatullah continued his religious studies in a seminary. No surprise that he later would turn into one of the Taliban's foremost religious authorities.
After the Taliban's creation of the Islamic Emirate in 1995, Haibatullah started working in one of its ministries in Farah Province, but he quickly relocated to Kandahar where he became a teacher at a Quranic school under the supervision of Mullah Umar.
But because of his strong religious credentials, Haibatullah would also move on from teaching as he took on a position as shariah judge in the emirate. In this position he has authored a wealth of religious rulings (fatawa) and been a close religious advisor to Mullah Umar.
After Mullah Umar's death, Haibatullah became the deputy to the new amir Mullah Mansour and effective the number two in the Taliban hierarchy. One of his first endeavours was to reform the internal organisation of the Taliban.
Mansour lasted only one year, and in May 2016, Haibatullah was chosen as new amir and took on the title of Commander of the Faithful. Now he will soon add the title of Leader of Afghanistan to his CV.
Besides his more than 25 years of service to the Taliban, Haibatullah also suffered personal 'sacrifices'. In 2017 he lost his son Abdur Rahman who conducted a suicide mission against an Afghan army base in Gereshk, Helmand. He also lost his younger brother and father.

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More from @ToreRHamming

4 Jun
One of my primary interests for a while has been online pro-Islamic State supporter networks. Why? Because I believe they're important and gives unique insight into what resonates among supporters. The Islamic State agrees. This week's editorial in al-Naba is about these networks
The editorial explains how the military battle against the Islamic State is accompanied by a digital battle to destroy its virtual component. No surpriser here, the Islamic State claims to have won this digital battle.
[My comment] This is partly true, partly wrong. Online supporter networks still exist and they perform an increasingly importante duty of the Islamic State's online battle. Yet, operationally the environment is much more restricted than just a few years back.
Read 8 tweets
16 Dec 20
On Monday, 1 July 2019 Kenyan national Cholo Abdi Abdullah was in his room in the Rasaca Hotel in the city of Iba, northwest of Manila, when he was arrested. In his possession, police found a pistol, a homemade bomb and a hand grenade. Yet Abdullah's primary aim involved a plane ImageImage
Reminiscent of 9/11, Abdullah's plan was to hijack an airplane and crash it into a skyscraper, prosecutors speculate. In preparation he had been training for years in the Philippines and already obtained his pilot license. The attack was to be carried out on behalf of.. Al-Shabab
Abdullah's trajectory to become a terrorist started already back in 2012 when he pledged allegiance to the Somali group al-Shabab. At the time, the group had just been accepted into the fold of al-Qaida.
Read 9 tweets
1 Nov 20
After 5 years and 3 months of work I finally defended my PhD thesis earlier this week. It was an extremely emotional experience and I am overly happy and proud with the result.

The thesis tells the much neglected story of Jihadis' internal conflict and here's what it is about.
First about the defence. Defending in front of a committee comprised of all my academic idols Olivier Roy, Stéphane Lacroix, Thomas @Hegghammer and Virginie Collombier was in itself rather frightening but also the most incredible way to conclude the research. Thank you!
During these 5 years I have learned a lot and I got to know a great group of people and I am truly grateful for all the help I received along the way. Not least from all the Jihadis that were willing to speak to me and with some I established a relationship.
Read 25 tweets
13 Sep 20
The idea that led to 9/11 as narrated by al-Qaida: The original idea came from an Egyptian pilot who migrated to Peshawar and stayed at one of the Jihadi guest houses. In an informal sitting, he would first air his idea to hijack airplanes to strike iconic building in the US
This idea was shared with AQ's military leader at the time Abu Ubaydah al-Banshiri (also Egyptian) and later recounted by senior AQ figures Abu Hafs al-Masri and Abu al-Khayr. When in Sudan, UBL arranged for two AQ members to attend flight training.
However, plans speeded up after Khalid Sheikh Muhammed approached AQ to air his own idea of hijacking airplanes. AQ was located in Sudan at the time and the country was not considered an appropriated launching pad for such a major attack.
Read 5 tweets
11 Dec 19
On 21 Nov, @Europol strongly assisted by @telegram initiated a campaign to ban and delete Jihadis and their material on the platform in the hitherto most successful online counter-offensive. But, as described by several of my colleagues, it also kickstarted several new dynamics!
At first, the crackdown was mainly focused on Telegram and targeted both AQ and IS elements - official and supporter accounts.
This led Jihadis to experiment with and migrate to new platforms: @tamtamchat, Hoop, Rocket.chat etc..
None of these migrations were particularly successful, however, but for various reasons. @tamtamchat was extraordinarily effective beginning its own crackdown on IS accounts, while the other two platforms appear rather inappropriate for mass consumption.
Read 7 tweets
10 Dec 19
Ét spørgsmål disse dage er, hvorvidt vestlige foreign fighters skal hjemtages til retsforfølgelse. Et andet spørgsmål er forholdene for terrordømte, som blomstrede op efter det seneste angreb i London. Denne tråd omhandler sidstnævnte.
I den seneste måneds tid er der kommet to forskellige svar fra forskningsverdenen: John Horgan diskuterer vigtigheden af re-integration og de-radikalisering af terrordømte. Se disse:
economist.com/britain/2019/1…
theconversation.com/amp/what-makes…
foreignpolicy.com/2019/02/28/tee…
Et andet perspektiv som kommer fra Simon Cottee, som plæderer for mindre overbærenhed over for terrordømte. Argumentet er, at terrorister er en form for unikke forbrydere, som skal opfattes anderledes.
Se her: foreignpolicy.com/2019/12/04/lon…
Read 7 tweets

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