INDEPTH: SEPTEMBER 11
Mullah Mohammed Omar
CBC News Online | Updated February 3, 2004
Mullah Mohammed Omar
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Mullah Mohammed Omar is the reclusive spiritual leader of the Taliban. It has been said of him that he has only met two non-Muslims in his life, has only left Afghanistan once to visit neighbouring Pakistan, and refuses to allow himself to be photographed.
He is a close friend and protector of Osama bin Laden, a relationship forged when they were comrades-in-arms in the fight against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. The United States regards Omar and bin Laden as the two most-wanted men in the world.
Omar had made declarations that he and his Taliban forces would fight to the death rather than submit to the U.S.-led coalition. Then he abruptly shifted gears and agreed to surrender Kandahar, a move believed to be part of a package that would include personal amnesty that would allow him to “live in dignity” with immunity from prosecution. With Kandahar surrendered and the Taliban effectively defeated in Afghanistan, Washington has said it will not support amnesty for Omar. The U.S. wants him dead or captured to face justice, perhaps at an American military tribunal.
For years Omar lived in a house in Kandahar paid for by bin Laden and said to have been built to withstand bombs. On December 7, the day after the Taliban surrender, there were conflicting reports on Omar’s whereabouts, but the U.S. believed he remained in Kandahar.
Omar is a tall man in his early 40s. He is always dressed in traditional clothing consisting of a black turban, the baggy “shalwar” pants and long, loose shirt known as “kameez.” He lost sight in his right eye when hit by shrapnel in the campaign against the Soviets. He has no formal schooling. His education consists of training sessions at a madrassah, an Islamic school devoted to the study of the principles of Islam and the reading of the Koran.
In the late-1990s, Omar declared himself “Amir-ul-Momineen,” which means leader of the faithful, a phrase with great resonance among Islamic fundamentalists. He wanted to make Afghanistan the purest Islamic state in the world.
So, the Taliban outlawed television, radio, cinema and music. Omar ordered the destruction of centuries-old Buddha statues engraved in mountains in central Afghanistan. He established a system of harsh punishment for criminal behaviour: those convicted of theft had their hands amputated, those convicted of murder were publicly executed by families of their victims.
Omar issued edicts to establish Taliban rules on women’s behaviour. They had to cover themselves. They were discouraged from leaving home and being seen in public. They could not be educated, could not hold jobs. Women guilty of adultery were stoned to death. Death sentences were also dispensed for anyone who converted to another religion.
When the Taliban conquered Afghanistan in the mid-1990s, freeing it from communist occupation, ordinary Afghans welcomed Omar and bin Laden as heroes and saviours. They believed they and the Taliban would bring order out of chaos and end decades of war and bloodshed.
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