Abdul Rahman Ghaleb (1980s – July 2017), known as Abu Sayed Bajauri or simply Abu Sayed, was a

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

terrorist who led the

Islamic State – Khorasan Province The Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISKP or ISIS–K) is a regional branch of the Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist group Islamic State (IS) active in Central Asia, Central and South Asia, primarily Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uz ...

(ISIS–K). Abu Sayed should not be confused with the similarly-named ISIS–K leader who succeeded him, Abu Saad Erhabi.

Islamic militancy

Abdul Rahman Ghaleb was born in the 1980s in

Bajaur Agency Bajaur District (, ), formerly Bajaur Agency, is a Districts of Pakistan, district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. Prior to 2018, Bajaur Agency was the northernmost component of the Federally Administered Tribal ...

, part of the

Federally Administered Tribal Areas The Federally Administered Tribal Areas, commonly known as FATA, was a semi-autonomous tribal region in north-western Pakistan that existed from 1947 until being merged with the neighbouring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018 through the ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. In the 1990s, Ghaleb joined

Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM, ) is an Islamic extremist militant group. The group swore an Bay'ah, oath of loyalty to Pakistani Taliban and become the part of it in 2007 aftermath the siege of Lal Masjid. The group's stated objecti ...

(TNSM) and later fought alongside the

Afghan Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) , leader2_title = Gov ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. After the fall of the Taliban government in 2001, Ghaleb returned to Bajaur for Islamic studies and was promoted to be a

qadi A qadi (; ) is the magistrate or judge of a Sharia court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and minors, and supervision and auditing of public works. History The term '' was in use from ...

for TSNM. He was close to Mawlawi Faqir Mohammed, a TNSM leader, and joined the

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan The Pakistani Taliban, officially the Tehreek-i-Taliban-e-Pakistan (TTP), is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Durand Line, Afghan–Pakistani border. Formed in 2007 by Baitullah Mehsud, i ...

alongside him in 2007. By 2011, Abdul Rahman served as the deputy to the TTP leader in Bajaur. He was falsely reported dead after a 2012 airstrike killed the TTP chief in Bajaur, Jamal Syed (better known as 'Dadullah').

Islamic State

Dadullah was replaced by Abu Bakr as chief of Bajaur under the TTP, and when Abu Bakr joined ISIS–K in February 2014, Ghaleb followed. In late August 2016, Ghaleb was the emir for

Nangarhar Province Nangarhār (Pashto: ; Dari: ), also called Nangrahar or Ningrahar, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country and Border, bordering Logar Province, Logar, Kabul Province, Kabul, Laghman Province, Laghm ...

and reported to be a deputy of then-ISIS–K Wali Abdul Haseeb Logari. Ghaleb was a driving force behind the expansion of ISIS–K operations to

Kunar Province Kunar (Pashto: ; Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. Its capital is Asadabad. Its population is estimated to be 508,224. Kunar's major political groups include Wahhabis or Ahl-e- ...

. In April 2017, Ghaleb was interviewed by ISIS–K's Khilafat Ghag (lit. ''' Voice of Khorasan) Radio and stated that jihad will continue "until conquering the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and converting its citizens to

tawhid ''Tawhid'' () is the concept of monotheism in Islam, it is the religion's central and single most important concept upon which a Muslim's entire religious adherence rests. It unequivocally holds that God is indivisibly one (''ahad'') and s ...

". Serving only 2 months and 75 days before his killing in July 2017, Ghaleb has held the shortest tenure of ISIS–K walis. During his short tenure, Ghaleb oversaw few attacks by the group, all with relatively low casualty rates.

Death

Abdul Rahman Ghaleb was killed in a US strike on ISIS–K's headquarters in the Watapur District of

on 11 July 2017 along with other key members of the group. In a statement to reporters, then-

US Secretary of Defense The United States secretary of defense (acronym: SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense (DoD), the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high-ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclos ...

Jim Mattis James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is an American military officer who served as the 26th United States secretary of defense from 2017 to 2019. A retired United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps four-star General (United States), gene ...

explained "The significance is you kill a leader of one of these groups and it sets them back... it is obviously a victory on our side in terms of setting them back, it is the right direction." Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White remarked that Ghaleb's killing "will significantly disrupt the terror group's plans to expand its presence." General John Nicholson, commander of U.S. Forces – Afghanistan remarked "This operation is another success in our campaign to defeat ISIS–K in Afghanistan in 2017... Abu Sayed is the third ISIS–K emir we have killed in the last year and we will continue until they are annihilated. There is no safe haven for ISIS–K in Afghanistan." Ghaleb's successor, Abu Saad Erhabi, was chosen quickly after and would serve until his killing in August 2018 in a combined raid by forces of the United States military and Afghan

National Directorate of Security The National Directorate of Security (NDS; ; ) was the national intelligence agency, intelligence and security agency, security service of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The headquarters of the NDS was in Kabul, and it had field offices and ...

(NDS).

References

{{Reflist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Afghanistan Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members Leaders of jihadist groups People from Bajaur District Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan members Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Pakistan Pakistani Islamists 1980 births 2017 deaths Assassinated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members 21st-century Pakistani politicians

Islamic militancy

Islamic State

Death

See also

References