Mehdi Mujahid

Anti-Taliban career

In 2022, Mahdi announced that he was arming fighters loyal to him which consisted of about 200 Hazara Shias. He also built a monument dedicated to himself and Abdul Ali Mazari in Balkhab, and he also turned more to his Shia Islamist and Hazara nationalist views. His forces ousted the Taliban's district governor and captured the Balkhab district. Mawlawi Ataullah, the Taliban's district governor, fled Balkhab, and Mahdi replaced him with one of his Hazara associates.

Mahdi Mujahid was supported by the NRF and Hazara politicians Muhammad Mohaqiq of HWIMA and Karim Khalili of Hezbe Wahdat, which Mahdi's father was a member of.

On 13 June 2022, Mahdi Mujahid gained full control of Balkhab district and his fighters were inflicting heavy damage on the Taliban. He was initially winning the conflict although the Taliban later outnumbered his fighters and retook Balkhab.

Assassination attempt On the morning of 25 June 2022, in the midst of the fighting between the Taliban and Mahdi's forces, Mahdi's house in the Hosh village of Balkhab district was targeted by Taliban airstrikes. Mahdi and his family survived, and none of them were injured. However, that same night, the Taliban killed Mohammad Moradi, his wife, and his daughter in Ghor Province. Moradi was a popular anti-Taliban commander. His support for Mahdi Mujahid was seen by the Hasht-e Subh as the reason for the Taliban attack on his house.

Death Mahdi Mujahid was killed on 17 August 2022 while he was trying to escape to Iran. It is unclear how he was killed. According to the locals and some Afghan media outlets, Mujahid was caught by the Taliban in the village of Bunyad in Kohsan District where he was arrested and had his identity confirmed before being executed. Taliban officials say that Mujahid was attempting to escape to Iran when their intelligence and border security caught him by the Afghanistan–Iran border and shot him dead. Naeemul Haq Haqqani, Taliban provincial information minister, told AFP that Mujahid was “killed after a conflict” and “rumors that he was captured alive are lies”.

Reaction Haji Muhammad Mohaqiq, a prominent ethnic Hazara leader who had strongly supported Mahdi through his conflict with the Taliban, condemned the killing of Mahdi Mujahid. He stated that "cold-bloodedly executing a person while he was not taken from war and was an unarmed traveler is against the religious teachings and is a war crime according to the international law."