Muhammad Rasul


Muhammad Rasul is the leader of the High Council of Afghanistan Islamic Emirate, a Taliban splinter group in Afghanistan. He was a Taliban-appointed governor of Nimruz Province, Afghanistan. Rasul exerted pressure and suppresion on Pashtun factions unpopular with the Taliban, and made a considerable fortune controlling cross-border drug-smuggling through Nimruz.

Early life

Rasul is believed to have been born in the mid 1960s in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.

Taliban rule and Invasion of Afghanistan

Rasul was the Governor for Nimruz Province while the Taliban were in power during the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. He is said to have enjoyed close relations with former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, and is considered to have been an "old and trusted friend" to him.
Rasul and his functionaries fled Nimroz following U.S. airstrikes on 13 November 2001, and his office was taken over by Abdul Karim Brahui. After the Invasion of Afghanistan, Rasul became the Taliban's shadow governor of Farah Province..

Afghan Civil War

In 2015, Rasul broke away from the main Taliban leadership and established his own group, the High Council of Afghanistan Islamic Emirate. The split was a result of a disagreement over the ascension of Mullah Akhtar Mansour as leader of the Taliban. Rasul's followers accuse Mansour of hijacking the movement due to personal greed. Rasul says that he and his supporters tried to persuade him to step down and let the new leader be chosen by the Taliban council, but Mansour refused.
The High Council is suspected to be a client of Iran. They have demanded that foreign troops leave Afghanistan as a precursor for peace talks. Rasul's Taliban group has voiced that neither al-Qaeda, nor the Islamic State are welcome in Afghanistan. The group has also been reported of being supported by Afghan government though both the group and Afghan officials have denied this.

Involvement in failed assassination of [Hibatullah Akhundzada]

During the Friday prayer on August 16 2019, a powerful blast tore through a grand mosque in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. The attack on the mosque, frequented by Taliban’s leadership, only killed the brother and father of the Mullah Haibatullah.
The High Council of Afghanistan Islamic Emirate, claimed responsibility for the attack, adding that the prime target was Haibatullah.