Mullah Omar, the leader and godfather of the Afghani terrorist movement Taliban, who was considered one of the most wanted men in the United States of America after the U.S. War in Afghanistan declared dead on July 30. Born as Mohammed Omar Mujahid in 1959 in Afghanistan's Kandahar Province Noda village, his father died when he was three years old, leaving him to support his family. Omar left his education when he was 19 years old to join the anti-Soviet Mujahideen rebels, presenting weak fighting abilities, losing his right eye. During his fight against the soviet occupation, Omar was a leader in the command of Nek Mohammad of the Hizb-e-Islami Khalis, but after the withdrawal of the Soviets from Afghanistan in 1989, Omar formed a new movement with less than 50 armed students, known later as Taliban in order to fight the Afghani corrupted regime. Omar's followers called him as Amir al-Mou'meneen (Commander of the Faithful) and after the fall of Afghanistan's capital Kabul in the hands of Omar and his followers, Omar became the 11th President of the country, changing its name to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in October 1997. During his presidency era which lasted for six years from September 27, 1996 to November, 13 2001, Omar visited Kabul two times only and destroyed historical Buddhas of Bamiyan monumental statues, declaring that all the statues in Afghanistan must be destroyed. "All Taliban are moderate. There are two things: extremism and conservatism, so in that sense we are all moderates taking the middle path.", Omar said during an interview with BBC in November 2001. In October 2001, USA launched a war against Afghanistan after September 11 World Trade Centers and Pentagon terrorist attack. The United States offered a $10 million reward for any information that lead to Omar's capture. USA army bombed Omar's house Kandahar, killing his son and uncle. Foreign Minister in the Taliban government, Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil invited Britain's Prime Minister, Toni Blair and U.S. President, George Bush "to take Kalashnikovs and come to a specified place where Omar will also appear to see who will run and who will not." Muttawakil pointed out that Omar was changing his place due to security reasons. However, Omar remained out of sight for a long period and his Afghan Followers expected that he might be in hiding with Pakistan's Pashtun tribes. In November 20, 2009, U.S. The Washington Times newspaper stated that Omar has fled to a Pakistani city on the border with Afghanistan. "Mullah Omar, who hosted Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders when they plotted the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, had been residing in Quetta, where the Afghan Taliban shura — or council — had moved from Kandahar after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001", the newspaper said. In 2011, rumors spread that Mullah Omar died, but Taliban movement denied his death as the British Daily Telegraph newspaper claimed in 2012 that Omar has sent a letter to the U.S. President, Barack Obama to express his interest for peace talks. In December 2014, Afghan intelligence Chief, Rahmatullah Nabil said that he is not sure if Omar is alive or dead. Omar was an opponent to Islamic State (IS) jihadist group. In April 2015, he said that pledging allegiance to the IS is forbidden in Islamic law, calling the group's leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi as a "fake caliph". "Baghdadi just wanted to dominate what has so far been achieved by the real jihadists of Islam after three decades of jihad. A pledge of allegiance to him is forbidden", Omar said. On July 29, Afghanistan's government announced that Omar had died and after one day Taliban confirmed the death of its leader Mullah Omar. As Omar's life was controversial, and so was his death as the government claimed that Omar died in a hospital in the Pakistani city of Karachi and buried somewhere near the border on the Afghan side in April 2013. Taliban denied Afghan government claims, stating that Omar died during the two weeks ago and buried in Afghanistan. "Not for a single day in the last 14 years did he go to Pakistan or any other country and led the Islamic Emirate affairs from his headquarters," Taliban statement said.
