Gul Agha Ishakzai (born ), also known as Mullah Hidayatullah Badri ( ), is a

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

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 ...

. Since July 2024, he is serving as the Minister of Mines and Petroleum. Prior to that he served as the country's

Finance Minister A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

and the governor of

Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB, ; ) is the central bank of Afghanistan. It regulates all banking and monetary transactions in Afghanistan. Established in 1939, the bank is wholly government-owned. It is active in developing policies to promote financial inclusion and a ...

from March 2023 to July 2024.

Biographical information

Gul Agha was born in Band-e-Temur,

Maiwand District Maiwand District is situated in the western part of the Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. It borders Helmand Province to the west, Ghorak District to the north, Khakrez District to the northeast, Zhari District to the east, and Panjwayi District to ...

, Kandahar Province. He belongs to the Ishaqzai

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

, and was a childhood friend of

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

founder

Mullah Mullah () is an honorific title for Islam, Muslim clergy and mosque Imam, leaders. The term is widely used in Iran and Afghanistan and is also used for a person who has higher education in Islamic theology and Sharia, sharia law. The title h ...

Mohammed Omar. He has also been known as Mullah Gul Agha, Mullah Gul Agha Akhund, Hidayatullah, Haji Hidayatullah, Hayadatullah.

Role in the Taliban

During the

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare against a larger authority. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric warfare, asymmetric nature: small irregular forces ...

period, Agha led the Taliban's financial commission. His role within the Taliban organization was to collect taxes (

zakat Zakat (or Zakāh زكاة) is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Zakat is the Arabic word for "Giving to Charity" or "Giving to the Needy". Zakat is a form of almsgiving, often collected by the Muslim Ummah. It is considered in Islam a relig ...

) from Baluchistan Province,

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# ...

. He has organised funding for

suicide attack A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

s in

Kandahar Kandahar is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city, after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118 in 2015. It is the capital of Kandahar Pro ...

, and for Taliban fighters and their families. He also has links to the related

Haqqani network The Haqqani network is an Afghan Islamist group, built around the family of the same name, that has used asymmetric warfare in Afghanistan to fight against Soviet forces in the 1980s, and US-led NATO forces and the Islamic Republic of Afghanis ...

. A number of countries and international organisations; including the United States, the United Nations, and the European Union, have implemented sanctions against him and his associates under counter-terrorism financing measures. He was a long-time associate of Mohammed Omar; he served as Omar's principal finance officer and one of his closest advisors, living in the

presidential palace A presidential palace is the official residence of the president in some countries. Some presidential palaces were once the official residences to monarchs in former monarchies that were preserved during those states' transition into republics. ...

with him during the first Taliban regime. He was made head of Talibans' Financial Commission in mid-2013. According to a

UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

report in January 2015, Agha, together with other members of the

Quetta Shura The Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, also translated as the Supreme Council (, also referred to as the Inner Shura), is an advisory council to the Supreme Leader of Afghanistan. The supreme leader convenes and chairs the ...

, showed interest in restarting

peace negotiations A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an agreement to stop hostilities; a surr ...

with the

Afghan Government The government of Afghanistan, officially called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and informally known as the Taliban government, is the central government of Afghanistan, a unitary state. Under the leadership of the Taliban, the government is ...

. On 24 August 2021, he was appointed acting finance minister by the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

References

External links

Circular Letter: CL-2010 numbered 051
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishakzai, Gul Agha Living people 1972 births Taliban government ministers of Afghanistan Pashtun politicians Afghan expatriates in Pakistan People from Kandahar Province Ministers of finance of Afghanistan

Biographical information

Role in the Taliban

See also

References

External links