Mullah Omar, the founder of the Taliban movement, once called him "the fiercest military commander of the group in the North."
Source: Telegram channel “Bozgasht” (“Return”)
Original article: "همسلول": ملا قیوم ذاکر کیست؟
Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir is an influential military figure within the Taliban structure and a trusted confidant of Mullah Hibatullah. From 2010, he led Taliban military operations against the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for four years. However, due to his firm opposition to peace talks and his insistence on continuing the war against the former government—along with his conflict with former Taliban leader Akhtar Muhammad Mansour—he was removed from his position.
Zakir joined the Taliban in 1997. During the group’s first regime, he commanded forces fighting against the Northern Alliance led by Ahmad Shah Massoud and Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani. His brutality and ruthlessness in suppressing opposition and killing civilians in northern Afghanistan led Mullah Omar to refer to him as "the fiercest Taliban military commander in the North."
In the current Taliban structure, Qayyum Zakir serves as the deputy minister of defense and oversees the group’s border affairs. He was born in Kajaki district, Helmand province, and belongs to the Alizai tribe, one of the influential branches of the Durrani tribal confederation. Zakir, together with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Mullah Fazl Mazloom, were among the top military leaders of the Taliban who led the war against Professor Rabbani’s government. Under their command, parts of northern provinces were burned and thousands of civilians massacred.
On November 28, 2001, just before the fall of the Taliban’s first regime, Zakir was captured and sent to Guantanamo prison. He remained there until 2007, after which he was transferred to Pul-e-Charkhi prison in Kabul. Mysteriously, he was released shortly afterward by order of then-Afghan President Hamid Karzai. In 2008, he returned to Quetta, Pakistan, and resumed military operations in Helmand and Nimruz provinces, conducting bloody attacks against the previous government. His brutality once again caught the attention of Taliban leadership, who then entrusted him with heading the military commission of the “Quetta Shura.”
Zakir’s Mission of Mass Killing of Civilians Under the Pretext of Suppressing Opposition
In September 2022, Mullah Hibatullah tasked Zakir with suppressing anti-Taliban armed groups in northern Afghanistan. Appointing someone known for his cruelty signaled the Taliban’s hostility toward the peoples of the northern provinces. Zakir organized mass killings of women and children and oversaw the arrest of many residents in Panjshir, Baghlan, Parwan, and Kapisa provinces.
Although his attacks on opposition forces in Panjshir and Baghlan were unsuccessful, the brutal killing of civilians, execution of young men with tied hands, and torture of locals by his forces spread fear among the population. During clashes with opposition fighters in Panjshir, 40 Taliban members were captured and another 25 were killed. This enraged Zakir, who retaliated against civilians—a response the United Nations described as a massacre.
Qayyum Zakir’s Ties with Al-Qaeda
The Long War Journal, which monitors terrorist activity, described Abdul Qayyum Zakir as a “close ally of the al-Qaeda network.” He and Sadr Ibrahim are powerful Taliban military leaders in southern Afghanistan. They financed their activities through control of drug trafficking and illegal mining, allowing them a degree of independence in decision-making.
There was intense rivalry between Zakir and Akhtar Muhammad Mansour over the appointment of military commanders, peace negotiations, and control of drug smuggling routes. At the time, Mansour was serving as Mullah Omar’s deputy. As tensions escalated, Zakir was arrested in Pakistan but later mysteriously released and appointed deputy head of the Quetta Shura's military commission.
Zakir’s growing influence led to serious internal rifts in Taliban leadership. After Mullah Omar’s death, Mansour removed Zakir from his post. Zakir returned to Helmand with a group of loyalists.
During his seven-year imprisonment in Guantanamo, Zakir formed close relationships with al-Qaeda leaders held there. Reports indicate that his close interactions with Arab Salafists in prison led him to adopt Salafist ideology. This deepened mistrust between him and Akhtar Mansour but also opened the door to cooperation with al-Qaeda. For a period, he reportedly served as al-Qaeda’s military commander in Helmand.
Qayyum Zakir’s Ties with ISIS
In 2015, as concerns grew over the emergence and activity of ISIS (Islamic State) in Afghanistan, a figure from Zakir’s family—Mullah Abdul Rauf Khadim, also from the Alizai tribe of Helmand—rose to prominence. Like Zakir, he had spent time in Guantanamo, where he adopted Salafism and forged close ties with several Arab inmates.
Some of these Arab cellmates went on to occupy senior leadership roles in ISIS in Syria and Iraq. They officially appointed Mullah Khadim as deputy of ISIS’s Khorasan Province (the group's Afghan branch).
Driven by familial, tribal, and personal animosities—particularly his deep-seated feud with Akhtar Mansour—Qayyum Zakir, along with Mansour Dadullah, was on the verge of joining the newly emerging ISIS. However, Mullah Khadim was soon killed in a U.S. drone strike, followed shortly by the death of his ally Mansour Dadullah.
After all these events, Zakir found himself in a difficult position and was forced to rejoin the Taliban and pledge allegiance to Akhtar Mansour. However, his hatred and opposition to Mansour did not disappear.
To continue his military activities and secure funding, Qayum Zakir established close ties with regional intelligence agencies. He became a partner of a contractor involved in importing fuel from a neighboring country into Afghanistan — a contract that has existed since the Islamic Republic era and continues to this day. Zakir remains one of the parties to this commercial agreement. This business, along with control over key drug trafficking routes, forms the basis of his economic power.