The

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 ...

Dadullah Front (also known as the Dadullah Front, the

Dadullah Lang Allegiance or the

Dadullah Mahaz) was an insurgent group in

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 ...

that claimed responsibility for a series of bombings and assassinations centered in

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

.Norland, Rod,
In Afghanistan, New Group Begins Campaign of Terror
", ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', 19 May 2012.

Background

Dadullah Dadullah (1966 – May 11, 2007) was the Taliban's most senior militant commander in Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asi ...

Akhund was a

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) ...

military commander killed in 2007.Roggio, Bill,
Mullah Dadullah, Taliban top commander, killed in Helmand
", ''The Long War Journal'', 13 May 2007. According to Bill Roggio of the

Long War Journal ''FDD's Long War Journal'' (LWJ) is an American news website, also described as a blog, which reports on the War on terror. The site is operated by Public Multimedia Incorporated (PMI), a non-profit media organization established in 2007. ...

, Dadullah had joined the Taliban in 1994 but was held in disfavor by some in that organization for his brutality during the Afghan civil war. Following the American-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 Dadullah led Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan. U.S. Military officials stated that Dadullah made use of suicide bombings in the Taliban's fight against American,

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

and Afghan government forces, and embraced the radical ideology of

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 ...

rejected by many other Taliban leaders.Special Operations Interrogator's Report,
State of the Taliban
," published by ''

'', drafted 6 January 2012. Dadullah was killed by British special forces in

Helmand Province Helmand (Pashto language, Pashto/Dari language, Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering ...

in 2007. The Dadullah Front, apparently named in his honor, began operating in Southern Afghanistan, including

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 ...

, Helmand, and

Uruzgan Uruzgan (Pashto: ; Dari: ), also spelled as Urozgan or Oruzgan, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. Uruzgan is located in the center of the country. The population is 436,079, and the province is mostly a tribal society. Tarinkot ...

Provinces, under the leadership of Dadullah's younger brother, Mansoor Dadullah. The group's level of independence from the Taliban was unclear.

Operations

U.S. Military and intelligence officials at one stage claimed that the Dadullah Front was led by Mullah Abdul Qayoum Zakir, also known as Abdullah Gulam Rasoul, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who was released in 2007. The Dadullah Front claimed responsibility for the 14 May 2012 assassination of Afghan High Peace Minister Mullah Arsala Rahmani, who was shot in traffic within Kabul.Roggio, Bill,
Mullah Dadullah Front claims assassination of Afghan High Peace Council member
", ''The Long War Journal'', 14 May 2012. Spokesman Qari Hamza, speaking to ''The'' ''Express Tribune'', stated that the Dadullah Front would "target and eliminate" all persons allowing " on-Muslimoccupation of Afghanistan."Khan, Tahir,
Killer blow to the peace process: senior afghan peace negotiator assassinated
," ''Express Tribune'', 14 May 2012. Rahmani was the second Peace minister to be killed within the year, following the assassination of

Burhanuddin Rabbani Burhānuddīn Rabbānī (; 20 September 1940 – 20 September 2011) was an Afghanistan, Afghan politician and teacher who served as the sixth president of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996, and again from November to December 2001 (in exile from 199 ...

by a suicide bomber on 20 September 2011. The Dadullah Front also claimed responsibility for that assassination. Both Rahmani and Rabbani had been responsible for organizing ongoing peace talks between the Taliban and the Karzai's government in Afghanistan. American and Afghan officials have stated that the Dadullah Front was attempting to derail peace negotiations then underway with the Taliban. Callers claiming to represent the group contacted several Afghan officials in May 2012, including Zabul Province representative Dawood Hasas, and threatened retaliation should they vote in favor of a "strategic partnership" negotiated between Hamid Karzai and U.S. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

Relations with the Taliban

Afghan intelligence officials described the Dadullah Front as affiliated with the Taliban. Taliban spokesmen denied any relationship with the Front, and claimed that the group was a creation of the

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 ...

. Following the August 2015 announcement that Akhtar Mansour had succeeded the deceased

Mullah Omar Muhammad Umar Mujahid (196023 April 2013), commonly known as Mullah Omar or Muhammad Omar, was an Afghan militant leader and founder and the first leader of the Taliban from 1994 until his death in 2013. During the Third Afghan Civil War, the T ...

as leader of the Taliban, Mansoor Dadullah refused to support him, leading to months of clashes between their forces in Zabul Province, resulting in the killing of Mansoor Dadullah and many of his supporters in November 2015. In August 2016, the Dadullah Front announced Dadullah's nephew Mullah Emdadullah Mansoor as its new leader, and threatened to take revenge on the Taliban. The group was linked to another Taliban splinter group, Fidai Mahaz, but the groups were believed to be separate.

References

{{Portal, Afghanistan, Politics Taliban Afghan Islamists War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Military history of Afghanistan Rebel groups in Afghanistan 2010 in Afghanistan 2011 in Afghanistan 2012 in Afghanistan Factions of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant