Taliban spokesperson shares rare picture of Mullah Omar

Mohammad Naeem, spokesperson for Taliban's political office, posted a picture on Friday of the group's late enigmatic founder Mullah Omar.

"A picture of the Commander of the Faithful, Mullah Muhammad Omar Mujahid - may God Almighty have mercy on him - during the jihad against the Soviets, with a group of his colleagues," Naeem posted on Twitter.

The shared picture is a slight window into the life of the Taliban leader who led a life of extreme discretion and was rarely photographed.

Born in 1960 in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, Mullah Omar fought with the Afghan fighters against the Soviet army in the 1980s and lost his right eye in battle.

Some reports suggest the Taliban leader had himself cut out his wounded eye, while other suggest he was treated at a hospital in one of the neighbouring countries.

After the Soviets pulled out in 1989, Omar is said to have returned to his native area as a prayer leader and teacher. He gathered a band of students which is later said to have become the Taliban.

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The Taliban took power in Kabul Under Omar's leadership in 1996 but were later on toppled by a US-led invasion, in 2001.

Omar was known as a unifying force among Taliban during the group's insurgency against the Afghan government and foreign troops.

His death in 2013, reportedly due to an illness, was not revealed by the group until July, 2015.

His death

In 2015, the then Afghan government confirmed on the basis of ‘credible information’ that Mullah Omar had died in April 2013 in Pakistan. “The government of Afghanistan believes ground for Afghan peace talks is more paved now than before, and thus calls on all armed opposition groups to seize the opportunity and join the peace process,” it said in a statement.

Afghanistan’s top spy agency had also confirmed the death of Mullah Omar ‘in a Karachi hospital’ two years ago. “I can confirm now that the Taliban leader Mullah Omar has died in Karachi,” Hasib Siddiqi, the spokesperson for the National Directorate of Security (NDS) said.

He said ‘foreign sources’ have confirmed to the Afghan government that Mullah Omar had died of some illness. “We are happy that Mullah [Omar] is no more alive but we still have a lot of questions if [he had] died a natural death or there was another reason,” Siddiqi added.

A former Taliban minister had dismissed the NDS claim that Mullah Omar had died in a Karachi hospital. However, he confirmed the death of the Taliban spiritual leader saying he had “died at his home in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan”.