Who was Mullah Omar and what does his death mean?

Mullah Omar is credited with beginning the movement that became known as the Taliban in 1994, when Afghanistan was being torn apart by infighting among the mujahideen groups that had driven out the Soviet Union.
The reclusive, one-eyed Omar -- seen only in a handful of photos -- and his band of followers very quickly overran Afghanistan, except for a small area in the northeast.
His movement, which came to be known as the Taliban, was actively supported by the Pakistani security establishment. Omar introduced a primitive Islamic system of government but the stability that the Taliban enforced led to many countries, including the US, working with them.
Arguably, Omar’s fatal mistake was to provide haven to a Saudi-born veteran of the Afghan war -- Osama bin Laden, the founder of al Qaeda. Bin Laden used his Afghan base to carry out attacks against the US, culminating in the 9/11 terror strikes.
Even afterwards, Omar refused to hand over bin Laden to the US despite strong pressure even from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, his only external friends. Ultimately, Omar was never able to see beyond the basic tribal politics of his native Afghanistan.
The subsequent US invasion of Afghanistan led to the Taliban regime in late 2001. Omar and his top commanders fled to Pakistan, where they came to be known as the 'Quetta Shura' because of their base in the southwestern city in Balochistan and effectively served as the Taliban government-in-exile.
Events in Afghanistan after the US invasion led to the formation of the Hamid Karzai-led government in Kabul with the backing of Western powers, an alternative Afghan Taliban movement supported by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and later an anti-Pakistani tribal grouping called the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.
In all of this, Omar and his Quetta Shura became increasingly marginalised. They remained largely silent and in hiding, primarily because of fears of killed or captured by the Americans, but also because Omar really had no political vision for the new Afghan set-up.
As far as is known, Omar had opposed all attempts, even by Pakistan, to negotiate a power-sharing agreement between the Afghan Taliban and the Western-backed Kabul regime. The new Afghan Taliban, while giving him lip service, looked to other ground commanders for leadership.
Several reports of his death had emerged over the years, partly because he was never seen in public or heard on messages issued by the Taliban during this period. If Omar died two years ago, as was reported, the Taliban have not felt the need to acknowledge this and that his death had no major impact on developments on the ground in Afghanistan.
Pakistan may actually find Omar’s death useful to their attempts to broker a peace agreement between Kabul and the Taliban. India will be merely pleased that the man who led the Taliban during the IC-814 hijack is at last dead. The Americans, who were already trying their best to forget Afghanistan, will see him as one more box that has been ticked.
-
US President Biden expresses shock at ‘vicious attack’ on Salman Rushdie
US President Joe Biden expressed shock over the "vicious attack" on Salman Rushdie and said that he pray for his health and recovery. White House termed the attack on Salman Rushdie as "appalling" and said that the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris Administration is praying for a speedy recovery of the renowned author. Hadi Matar, who is suspected of stabbing an Indian-born-British author in western New York State on Friday morning during a lecture was arraigned in centralized arraignment on Saturday and was remanded without bail at Chautauqua County Jail. A suspect has been taken into custody.
-
Author Salman Rushdie’s attacker pleads not guilty to attempted murder
A 24-year old New Jersey man charged with attempted murder and assault for attacking author Salman Rushdie has pleaded not guilty. Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey was arraigned in centralised arraignment on Saturday and was remanded without bail at Chautauqua County Jail. Authorities with New York State Police told PTI that Matar pleaded not guilty and was held in the Chautauqua County Jail.
-
Salman Rushdie's attacker Hadi Matar charged with attempted murder, assault
Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old New Jersey man who stabbed Mumbai-born author Salman Rushdie in New York on Friday, has been charged with 'attempted murder and assault in the second degree', the Chautauqua Country district attorney's office said on Saturday. Matar was born and raised in the US, the head of the local municipality, Ali Qassem Tahfa, told news agency AFP. Rushdie remained hospitalised in serious condition.
-
Monkeypox: WHO creates forum, asks public to propose new name for virus
The WHO has been in the process of renaming monkeypox since June alongside other efforts to urge the global community not to have any stereotypes around it. The zoonotic disease is disproportionately affecting men in sexual relationships with men and spreads via close contact.
-
Salman Rushdie: The free speech champion whose 'verses' put his life at risk
A Booker Prize that catapulted him to the pantheon of global literary stalwarts to a fatwa by Iran's Supreme Leader that forced him into hiding and years of death threats, Mumbai-born author Salman Rushdie was both idolised and demonised for a singular trait that defined his life and works -- championing free speech. His memoir is Joseph Anton, named for the pseudonym he used while in hiding.