Name Muhammad Rasul | ||
Mullah Muhammad Rasul is the leader of the High Council of Afghanistan Islamic Emirate, a Taliban group in Afghanistan. He was a Taliban-appointed governor of Nimruz Province, Afghanistan. Rasul exerted economic pressures on ethnic and religious minorities unpopular with the Taliban, and made a considerable fortune controlling cross-border drug-smuggling through Nimruz.
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Early life
Rasul is believed to have been born in the mid 1960s in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.
Taliban rule and Invasion of Afghanistan
Rasul was the Governor for Nimruz Province while the Taliban were in power during the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. He is said to have enjoyed close relations with former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, and is considered to have been an "old and trusted friend" to him.
Rasul and his functionaries fled Nimroz following U.S. airstrikes on 13 November 2001, and his office was taken over by Abdul Karim Brahui. After the Invasion of Afghanistan, Rasul became the Taliban's shadow governor of Farah Province. He was also a member of the secretive Quetta Shura
Afghan Civil War
In 2015, Rasul broke away from the main Taliban leadership and established his own group, the High Council of Afghanistan Islamic Emirate. The split was a result of a disagreement over the ascension of Mullah Akhtar Mansour as leader of the Taliban. Rasul's followers accuse Mansour of hijacking the movement due to personal greed. Rasul says that he and his supporters tried to persuade him to step down and let the new leader be chosen by the Taliban council, but Mansour refused.
The High Council is suspected to be a client of Iran. They have demanded that foreign troops leave Afghanistan as a precursor for peace talks. Rasul's Taliban group has voiced support for the actions of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State abroad however, he has stated that neither group is welcome in Afghanistan. The group has also been reported of being supported by Afghan government though both the group and Afghan officials have denied this.