Abdul Qayyum Zakir

Taliban activities and Guantanamo Bay internment Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi instructed Qayyum and Nematullah to join the Taliban movement after it formed, and they joined it in Spin Boldak District in eastern Kandahar Province of Afghanistan. On March 9, 2009, the Department of Defense reported that he had emerged as a Taliban leader. British officials believed he became the Taliban's operations commander for southern Afghanistan soon after his release In addition to Baradar, the raids were reported to have captured Mir Muhammad, Abdul Salam, Abdul Kabir, Mohammad Hassan Akhund, Abdul Rauf, Ahmad Jan Akhundzada and Muhammad Younis. Zakir was released without explanation. He did take over as the chief military commander in 2010.

The Wall Street Journal reported in April 2014 that Zakir had left the position of chief military commander. The Taliban leadership officially said that he stepped down due to "ill health". Some informants said that he was demoted, because of his strong opposition to peace talks with the Afghan Government and disagreements with more moderate leaders such as Akhtar Mansour. Zakir was succeeded by Ibrahim Sadar.

After the death of Taliban founding leader Mohammad Omar was announced in 2015, Mansour was appointed supreme leader. Zakir and others boycotted the process that appointed Mansour. He preferred Mohammad Yaqoob, Omar's eldest son, for the position. After some delay Zakir pledged allegiance to Mansour.

During the 2021 Taliban offensive, he was one of the commander of Taliban forces in southern part of Afghanistan and led the march towards Kabul. He was reportedly the first to enter the presidential palace upon Ashraf Ghani’s flight. After the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan on 15 August 2021, Zakir was appointed as the Taliban's deputy minister of defense.