Ibrahim Sadr (; born Khodaidad), sometimes written Ibrahim Sadar, is a senior

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) ...

official serving as the acting deputy minister of interior affairs of

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 21 September 2021. He previously served as the acting minister of interior affairs from 24 August 2021 to 7 September 2021.

Life and career

Born ''Khodaidad'', he changed his name to ''Ibrahim''. Sadr was part of the

Afghan mujahideen The Afghan ''mujahideen'' (; ; ) were Islamist militant groups that fought against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union during the Soviet–Afghan War and the subsequent Afghan Civil War (1989–1992), First Afghan Ci ...

who fought against the Soviet forces in the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...

. After the war, he moved to

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

in Pakistan to teach in a

madrassa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary education or higher learning. ...

. Students there added ''Sadr'' (meaning 'president') to his name. During the first Taliban government, he was responsible for the Taliban's defence department managing Soviet aircraft. Holding stringent religious views, he developed close contacts with jihadist groups, including

Al Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

. After the US invasion, he returned to Peshawar. He was close to the original Taliban leader Mohammed Omar and

Akhtar Mansour Akhtar Mohammad Mansour (196821 May 2016) was an Afghan militant leader who served as the second supreme leader of the Taliban. Succeeding the founding leader, Mullah Omar, he was the supreme leader from July 2015 to May 2016, when he was killed ...

, who succeeded Omar, and Sadr rose in the Taliban hierarchy. Sadr was appointed the Taliban military chief commander in 2014. The Taliban did not announce his appointment publicly until August 2016. Sadr's close friend Mansour, the Taliban leader, was killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan in 2016 and Sadr blamed Pakistan. Sadr refused to base himself in Pakistan or to attend Taliban meetings there, upsetting other members. He insisted on remaining in Afghanistan or Iran. Sadr used wealth from opium and marble smuggling to build his own support network within the Taliban, and he was also supported by Iran. Unhappiness with his independence within the Taliban, his dislike of Pakistan and his closeness to Iran led to him being replaced as the military chief by

Mohammad Yaqoob Muhammad Yaqoob Mujahid Tumzi (born 1990), commonly known as Mullah Yaqoob, is an Afghan military leader and cleric who is serving as the second deputy leader of Afghanistan and the acting defense minister in the internationally unrecognized Ta ...

in 2020, with Sadr becoming a deputy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sadr, Ibrahim Living people Taliban commanders Taliban leaders Year of birth missing (living people) Mujahideen members of the Soviet–Afghan War Interior ministers of Afghanistan