Afghan Taliban have not confirmed the death of their supreme leader Haibatullah Akhunzada

Claim:

1-   The Taliban have confirmed the death of their supreme leader Haibatullah Akhunzada.

2-   Akhunzada died last year in a suicide attack carried out by Pakistani forces.

Fact:

1-   The Taliban have not confirmed the death of their supreme leader Haibatullah Akhunzada.

2-   The Pakistani State has endorsed a religious ruling (fatwa) against suicide attacks.

On 16 October 2021 news18.com, the online arm of Indian English-language news television channel CNN News18 (formerly CNN IBN), reported that the Taliban had confirmed that their supreme leader (also known as the Amir-ul-Momineen) Habatullah Akhunzada died in 2020.

Soch Fact Check found the claim made in the report to be false. No statement has been provided by either the official representative of the Afghan Taliban Sohail Shaheen or the spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Zabihullah Mujahid to suggest that Akhunzada has passed away. In fact, according to Bakhtar News Agency, the official state news agency of the Afghan government, the appointment of the Qazi ul Quzat of Afghanistan (Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Afghanistan) — the most recent notable appointment in Kabul —  took place at the instruction of Haibatullah Akhunzada on 15 October 2021. Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty’s online arm Gandhara also reported that the 38 member Taliban cabinet was appointed by Haibatullah himself on 4 October 2021.

Additionally, no news about Akhunzada’s purported death has been shared by cabinet members or other top Taliban officials. Likewise, no intelligence agency has shared any information to suggest Akhunzada has died, nor has the story been picked up by any other news outlets. 

This is not the first time CNN News18 has reported that Akhunzada has died. In a similar story published on 14 February 2021, CNN News18 claimed Haibatullah had died “months ago” in a blast in Quetta, Balochistan. The February report cited an article published by the Hindustan Times, which seemed to have picked up the story from local Afghan tabloid Hasht e Subh. At the time, Ahmadullah Wasiq, now deputy head of the Taliban’s cultural commission and acting director of the ‘Estekhbarat’ (Intelligence), denied the story, declaring it a false story being circulated by “enemy agencies.” The February story and the more recent story  — both of which were published under anonymous bylines and cite anonymous sources — seriously call into question CNN News18’s credibility. 

In September 2021, CNN —  one half of CNN News18 — published a report about rumors that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, another top Taliban leader, was missing. Just one day after the report was released, Baradar himself appeared in a television interview to refute the rumours that he had been injured or killed. 

Meanwhile, Pakistani forces have not taken responsibility for any attack involving Akhunzada and the Pakistani State has also endorsed a unanimous fatwa (a legal opinion or decree handed down by an Islamic religious leader) declaring suicide attacks of any kind haram (prohibited). The decree was published under the name of Paigham e Pakistan by the International Islamic University Islamabad in 2018 (ISBN number 978-969-408-364-3), and was ratified by the President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain.

Conclusion: CNN News18’s headline is false. The Afghan Taliban have not announced or confirmed the death of their supreme leader Haibatullah Akhunzada. Additionally, suicide attacks have been declared haram in a joint fatwa issued by religious scholars and endorsed by the Pakistani State.