During the years of military confrontation with the security forces of the previous regimes, the Taliban were able to secure the assistance of several Uzbek, Tajik, and Hazara leaders in certain areas, including the north of Afghanistan. These local leaders, who were familiar with the territory of the northern provinces, made a significant contribution to the Taliban’s progress and the capture of cities and districts. However, since the fall of the Republic, the Taliban have been increasingly driving away non-Pashtun leaders with unique ideologies. Among the most famous non-Pashtun leaders who were subsequently dispatched to the southern provinces were Salahuddin Ayoubi, Makhdoom Alam Rabbani, and Abdul Hamid Khorasani. Reports suggest that these commanders, who are currently serving in the ranks of the Taliban in the southern provinces of the country, do not have the authority to carry out their tasks and are essentially exiled troops. Furthermore, some people who spoke out about “rights” had to face campaigns from their old colleagues and were removed from power.
According to Hash-e-Subh, two prominent Uzbek leaders of the Taliban, Qari Salahuddin Ayubi and Makhdoom Alam Rabbani, have been removed from their positions as security chiefs in Zabul and Ghazni provinces respectively. Additionally, Abdul Hamid Khorasani, a Taliban commander from Tajikistan who led the Taliban attack in Panjshir, has been appointed as the district governor of Paktia province in the southeast of the country after previously serving as the Taliban’s security chief in Panjshir. Abdul Hamid Mujahid, a Tajik leader of the Taliban in Badakhshan, and Mawlawi Mehdi, a Hazara Taliban commander in Samangan and Bamiyan provinces, were both killed due to their promotion of “righteousness” slogans, their attempts to solidify their positions, and their efforts to gain more political power.
For the past two years, the Taliban have been attempting to strengthen the foundations of their system with slogans such as “convergence”, “ethnic unity”, “ending the crisis of several decades of war” and “demagoguery at the domestic and international levels in relation to the formation of an all-inclusive government”. They have shown a willingness to do whatever it takes to maintain their power, and it was expected that strong non-Pashtun militants and commanders who had caused a great number of casualties in Afghanistan’s north and northeast over the past ten years would play a more significant and effective role in the Taliban’s political structure. However, since reclaiming control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have begun purging their ranks of ethnic minorities, initially giving non-Pashtun commanders assignments that went against their expectations and goals, before eventually transforming all of their posts from military to ceremonial civilian positions.
Qari Salahuddin Ayuobi, a renowned Taliban leader in Faryab province, where the majority is Turk and Uzbek, was responsible for the majority of fighting in three provinces and was one of the first to approach the presidential palace when Kabul fell to the Taliban. He briefly served as the Taliban regime’s deputy commander of the “Mansoori” military unit in Paktia province until he was relieved of his duty and appointed Deputy Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development. After the fall of the Republic state, Ayuobi moved into Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum’s home in Kabul’s Shirpoor area, but was forced to leave by the Taliban leaders. He later declined the position of Deputy Minister of Rural Development, returned to Faryab, and accused the Taliban leadership of ethnocentrism and double standards. Ayuobi warned that he would leave the Taliban unless the Turk minority were given the right to manage a larger portion of the Taliban rule.
Qari Salahuddin Ayuobi played a pivotal role in the Taliban’s conflict with the Republic’s security forces. In 2014, when the Afghan security forces discovered his intention to leave the province of Herat for Quetta, Pakistan, they apprehended him. In exchange for his release, the Taliban freed 83 prisoners from the previous administration, including soldiers from the army, national security, national police, commandos, and eight foreign nationals. In October 2022, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader, summoned him to Kandahar and appointed him as the Taliban’s security commander in the province of Zabul, one of the third-best provinces in the country. Despite the fact that Ayuobi had no support network there, it is unclear why he remained silent after being nominated to this position. Hasht-e-Subh received confirmation from sources in the province of Zabul that Mr. Ayuobi has held this job for five months and has spent most of that time in Kabul.
Makhdoom Alam Rabbani, an Uzbek Taliban member, was apprehended by Mullah Fazel Mazloom, the deputy defense minister of the Taliban, in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif last year. These prompted thousands of his followers to take to the streets of Faryab to call for his unconditional release.
The Taliban asserted that Makhdoom Alam Rabbani’s arrest was due to a misunderstanding and subsequently released him, although the rationale for his arrest by them has not yet been revealed. Credible sources have determined that Mr. Rabbani’s involvement in the abduction of Abdul Rauf, a child from Balkh, who had been in the custody of kidnappers for an extended period of time, was the cause of his arrest. According to sources, Abdul Rauf was liberated from his captors shortly after Makhdoom Alam Rabbani was. The Taliban have not yet provided a definitive answer regarding who kidnapped this Balkhi infant or why.
Despite this arrest and subsequent release, the Makhdoom Alam Rabbani affair did not come to an end. The Taliban leadership feared that he would become active again after a few months at home and his meetings with the leaders of the Uzbek tribe in Faryab intensified. As he is a member of the Taliban and has hundreds of armed followers, they sent their own security forces to the province of Ghazni.
Mawlawi Makhdoom Alam Rabbani has only a “symbolic” role in the security command of this province, according to a reliable source in the Taliban security command in Ghazni, who also confirmed to Hasht-e-Subh that the Taliban security commander in this province is in charge of all of the command’s affairs. The source also stated that Mr. Makhdoom Alam Rabbani spends most of his time at his residence in Kabul.
Along with these leaders, Abdul Hamid Khorasani, a controversial Taliban leader of Tajik descent who had converted to Islam and was chosen as the governor of Ahmedabad district in the southeast provinces of the country, was also mentioned. Abdul Hamid Khorasani had been detained under the Republican government on suspicion of extortion, possession of illicit weapons, and disturbing the peace. After being released from prison in 2020, he joined the Taliban. Residents of Panjshir claim that Commander Khorasani led the Taliban in this province following the overthrow of the republican government in the month of Asad (August) in the year 1400 (2021) and the Taliban’s attempt to annex Panjshir province.
Abdul Hamid Khorasani was chosen by the Taliban to be the security commander of the security command in this province when they assumed control of Panjshir, however he was dismissed after a disagreement with Mawlawi Qudratullah, the former Taliban governor of this province. This Taliban leader had accused Mawlawi Qudratullah of misappropriation, arbitrary arrests, and misuse of authority.
In order to demonstrate his loyalty to the Taliban, Abdul Hamid Khorasani, who is more closely associated with the Haqqani branch of the Taliban, changed his last name to Emirati and grew a long beard like the Taliban. He consistently defends and praises the actions of Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the head of the Taliban, and Sirajuddin Haqqani, the interior minister of this group, and wears a black armband like the commanders and soldiers of the Haqqani network.
Abdul Hamid Khorasani’s promotion from the security command of a major province under the Taliban regime and his appointment as the district governor of one of the more remote districts in the southeast has been seen as evidence of the Taliban’s success in exploiting this opportunity. It has become a matter of debate as to whether it is Emirati or not.
Mawlawi Mahdi Mujahid, the sole Hazara leader of the Taliban, directed extensive operations against the security forces of the former government while engaging in combat for numerous years in the provinces of Sar–e–Pul, Samangan, and Bamiyan. After the republican system was overthrown, he was selected to lead the Taliban‘s intelligence in Bamiyan, and shortly thereafter, he retired to his residence.
Mawlawi Mehdi Mujahid, one of the first members of the group to defect, accused the Taliban of violating prior agreements and subsequently left Kabul to seek refuge in his hometown of Balkhab district in Sar–e–Pul Province. He had intended to explain how Hazaras and Shiites could be integrated into the Taliban government, but the Taliban mistook him for an enemy and launched a major offensive against him. Eventually, the Taliban forces used deception to overpower him on the border between Iran and Afghanistan.
Abdul Hamid Mujahid, a prominent leader of the Tajik Taliban in Badakhshan, was silenced and killed in Badakhshan Province alongside several of his companions after voicing his disapproval of the Taliban‘s mono–ethnic and exclusionary practices, causing them to depart.
The Pashtun leaders of the Taliban, who now occupy the majority of the top positions, are accused of monopolizing authority. They have either removed or demoted non–Pashtun leaders during their almost two years of rule over the country. It is speculated that the majority of these commanders, who have either lived together or are currently in exile in neighboring provinces, have stayed quiet out of fear of Mawlawi Mehdi Mujahid in Sar–e–Pul and Abdul Hamid Mujahid in Badakhshan province.
