Abdul Salam Hanafi

Abdul Salam Hanafi (Pashto: عبدالسلام حنفي, Pashto pronunciation: [ˈabdʊl saˈlɑm hanaˈfi], Uzbek/Dari: عبدالسلام حنفی) is an Afghan Uzbek political and Deobandi-Islamic religious leader who is a senior leader of the Taliban, an acting second deputy prime minister, alongside Abdul Ghani Baradar and Abdul Kabir, of Afghanistan since 2021, and was a central member of the negotiation team in the Qatar office. He has also served as deputy minister of education in the Taliban government from 1996–2001. After the Taliban government collapse in 2001, following the United States invasion of Afghanistan, Hanafi was appointed by the Taliban leadership as a top general to oversee the Taliban’s military activities in Jowzjan Province, Northern Afghanistan from May 2007 until sometime in 2008.

Abdul Salam Hanafi is from Jowzjan Province, which is located in northern Afghanistan. He has studied at various religious seminaries including Jamia Darul Uloom, Karachi, Pakistan. Hanafi is given the esteemed title of Mawlawi, which is a title given to those who studied at Deobandi religious schools or Madrasas. He has also been teaching at Kabul University for some time. Abdul Salam Hanafi has been part of the Taliban movement from the beginning. However, he is generally known among the Taliban as an Alim-e Din (scholar of the faith).