Topic: Mullah Dadullah

Mullah Dadullah or Dadullah Akhund (Pashto: ملا دادالله آخوند) (c. 1966 – May 12, 2007) was the Taliban's senior military commander until his death in 2007. He was an ethnic Pashtun from the Kakar tribe of Kalai-Kakaran village in Uruzgan province of Afghanistan. He also had a home in Alajilga, a border village in Kandahar province.

Dadullah lost a leg when fighting with the Mujahideen against Soviet occupation in the 1980s. He was a member of the Taliban's 10-man leadership council before the US-led invasion in 2001. He was reportedly also a close aide to Mullah Omar. In 1999-2000, he led the suppression of a revolt by Hazaras in Bamyan province. When the Taliban regime fell in December 2001, Dadullah escaped capture by Northern Alliance forces in Kunduz province.

Rumors that Dadullah may be headed to recapture the city with as many as 8,000 Taliban fighters, following the November 2001 Battle of Mazar-i-Sharif, a thousand American ground forces were airlifted into the city.