Mohammad Rabbani

Mullah Mohammad Rabbani Akhund (1955 – 16 April 2001) was one of the main leaders of the Taliban movement who served as Prime Minister of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. He was second in power only to the supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, in the Taliban hierarchy. Rabbani fought the Soviet Union after it invaded Afghanistan in 1979. When the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, he initially stopped fighting. He joined the Taliban in 1994. After years of civil war, he led the Taliban guerrillas in the final assault against the capital, Kabul. He served as Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. There were also rumors that Mullah Rabbani and the head of the Taliban movement had serious political differences. While Rabbani and the ruling Leadership Council of Afghanistan constituted the public face of the country, the important decisions were made by Mullah Omar, who resided in the southern city of Kandahar. Early years Rabbani was born in 1955. He was from the Kakar tribe. He obtained Islamic education at home in Pashmol in Kandahar Province, before participating in an Islamic seminary. The invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union in 1979 put a stop to his education as he volunteered for the jihad.