Those who have met Omar, say he's stands close to 6 foot, 6 inches, is bearded, reclusive, and a lover of war stories. A fierce Afghan Fighter commander, he was wounded four times in the jihad against the Soviets, including the loss of his right eye.  Mullah Omar, is the reclusive leader of the Taliban of Afghanistan and was Afghanistan's Taliban government head of state from 1996 to 2001, under the title Amir al-Mu'minin translated as "Commander of the Faithful".  The term in the Arabic style of Caliphs and other independent sovereign Muslim rulers that claim legitimacy from a community of Muslims. It has been claimed as the title of rulers in Muslim countries and empires and is still used for some Muslim leaders.  The fact that this guy seemingly would stand out in a crowd.  One bad eye approximately 6'6", he definitely would.  Maybe his quote from September 2001 above has some merit.  It is August 2008 and Bush is running out of time to deliver on his threat as he is winding down the last months of his administration and Mullah Mohammed Omar as well as his compatriots Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri are still in hiding and the Taliban has been strengthening for the past year.  Mullah Omar's Taliban regime in Afghanistan sheltered Osama bin-Laden and his al-Qai'da network in the years prior to the September 11 attacks. Although Operation Enduring Freedom removed the Taliban regime from power, Mullah Omar remains at large and represents a continuing threat to America and her allies

Ascent to Mullah Mohammed Omar

Mohammed Omar, birth date is in approximately 1959 near Kandahar, Afghanistan.  Born into Pashtun culture which is today creating many jihad militant fighters in Kashmir, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other regional conflicts (See:  Pashtunwali: The way of the Pashtuns).    Omar fought as a guerilla with the Harakat-i Inqilab-i Islami faction of the anti-Soviet Mujahideen under the command of Nek Mohammad, and fought against the Najibullah regime between 1989 and 1992. After the experience in the Soviet conflict, Mohammed Omar shifted his attention to his religious studies.  He reportedly taught at a madrasah ( Islam religious school) near the Pakistan border. Unlike most of the Afghan mujahideen, he speaks passable Arabic which enables him to converse easily with foreign fighters in his lands that have taken up arms against the Soviet Union then and now the United States.  He is devoted to the lectures of  the late Sheikh Abdullah Azzam who was assassinated by the "enemies of Islam" in Peshawar, Pakistan in 1989.  On 24 November 1989 three bombs planted along the route that Abdullah Azzam regularly traveled to the mosque detonated as he passed. The Sheikh was killed, along with two of his sons. Rumors have consistently linked Osama Bin Laden to Azzam’s assassination, though there is no proof of a connection. Upon his death, Azzam left behind him dozens of books on religious doctrines, religious Fatawa (rulings) and a comprehensive ideology of Jihad that is the core of al Qaeda organization and now radical Islam in general.

After the fall of the Soviet backed communist government, Afghanistan fell into anarchy and warring tribes divided the country and waged endless conflict among the tribal warlords.  With great assistance and backing of the Pakistani intelligence services Mohammed Omar created the Taliban, or Students, to unite the country.  In this scenario, Pakistan gets what it wants by having become a major administrator to the once troublesome neighbor that has created tensions along the border between the two countries. It gave them security and influence.  His supporters came from both sides of the borders and believed in delivering Afghanistan to Fundamental Islamic Rule.  The populations were weary of war and the Taliban gained support as it began to root out violence and corruption.  In September 1996, Mullah Omar was in charge of Afghanistan. but the regime was recognized by only three states: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan. In September 2000, the Taliban claimed to control 95% of Afghanistan and declared that it deserved international recognition as the country's government. In October 1997 the country's official name was changed to The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.  United Nations (UN) sanctions on Afghanistan went into effect in October 1999, provoking mobs to attack UN offices in the capital, Kabul. The sanctions were intended to punish the Taliban for failing to expel the Saudi-born terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, who had been sheltering in Afghanistan since 1996. In December 1999, Pakistan's central bank ordered all funds and property held in the country by the Taliban movement to be seized.  Many believed this was to protect the assets of  Pakistan created Taliban.  After Osama bin Laden was named by the USA as the prime suspect for the 11 September terrorist attacks, US president George W Bush made it clear that the Taliban would face military action if they did not hand him over. On 19 September, Taliban mullahs (clerics) refused to concede. The following day, however, they offered to ask bin Laden to leave the country, but President Bush rejected all attempts at negotiation. The US led a military offensive against the Taliban in October. After a week of bombing, the Taliban offered to hand over bin Laden to a third party. The offer was again rejected by the USA, and the bombing continued.

Rule Under Mullah Mohammed Omar

Afghanistan began it's descent back to the dark ages after the Taliban led by Mullah Omar installed a harsh and rigid interpretation of Sharia Law.  Like Wahhabi and other Deobandis, the Taliban strongly opposed the Shia branch of Islam. The Taliban declared the Hazara ethnic group, which totaled almost 10% of Afghanistan's population, "not Muslims."  The Taliban did not hold elections, as their spokesman explained:  The Sharia does not allow politics or political parties. That is why we give no salaries to officials or soldiers, just food, clothes, shoes and weapons. We want to live a life like the Prophet lived 1400 years ago and jihad is our right. We want to recreate the time of the Prophet and we are only carrying out what the Afghan people have wanted.

In March 2001, after a dream where Allah spoke to him, Omar issued a decree stating the Buddha statues at Bamyan  were to be destroyed further stating that "all the statues around Afghanistan must be destroyed." 

Muslims in other parts of the world began to speak out on harsh Taliban rule as what they described as un-Islamic treatment of Muslims as well as the bestowing of the title of  Amir al-Mu'minin on Muhammad Omar.  The appointment was criticized on the grounds that he lacked scholarly learning, tribal pedigree, or connections to the Prophet's family.

Sharia law was interpreted to ban a wide variety of activities hitherto lawful in Afghanistan: employment and education for women, movies, television, videos, music, dancing, hanging pictures in homes, clapping during sports events.  Men were required to have a beard extending farther than a fist clamped at the base of the chin. On the other hand, they had to wear their head hair short. Men were also required to wear a head covering.  Possession was forbidden of depictions of living things, including photographs of them, stuffed animals, and dolls.  These rules were issued by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Suppression of Vice (PVSV) and enforced by its "religious police," a concept thought to be borrowed from the Wahhabis of Saudia Arabia Sect.  Women were restricted from leaving the house unless completely covered from the top of the head to below the ankles.  If they were found outside the home in the company of anyone other then a husband or family member of the opposite sex they were stoned to death.  They could not walk around alone.
 

The End of The Taliban Rule

In giving Osama bin Laden refuge beginning in 1996 after bin Laden left Sudan due to U.S. pressure, Mullah Mohammed Omar felt the wrath of U.S. firepower after refusing to unconditionally hand over the man that was responsible for the operations that resulted on "Holy Tuesday" September 11, 2001 as it was referred to by al Qaeda. Mohammad stated that he could not give up a hero of the Jihad that defeated the Soviet super power and removed them from Afghanistan soil.

In October 2001, Taliban rule was bombarded out of Afghanistan as Mullah Omar and top level al Qaeda leaders slid into the lawless regions along the border with Pakistan.  Since the fall of the Taliban, Mullah Omar nor Osama bin Laden have been found and are still possibly in the region or possibly inside Pakistan.  There is a $10 million reward for Omar's information that leads to his apprehension.  A captured Taliban spokesman, Muhammad Hanif, told Afghan authorities in January 2007, that Omar was being protected by the Inter-Services Intelligence in Quetta, Pakistan. This would follow history between the the Taliban and the Pakistan Intelligence relationship.  In the past few years statements by Mullah Mohammed Omar have been distributed claiming that the Taliban will drive the foreign troops from their soil and retake control over Afghanistan.