Editing Mullah Omar (section)

=== Suspected activities ===
Some believed that Omar hid in the mountains of southern Afghanistan for over a year before he fled to neighboring Pakistan in late 2002. He continued to receive the allegiance of prominent pro-Taliban military leaders in the region, including [[Jalaluddin Haqqani]]. According to sources, he lived somewhere in [[Karachi]] for a time, where he worked as a potato trader to escape detection; a city where he had lived in already and visited for many years before the group's emergence in the 1990s.<ref name="McClatchy">{{cite news |date=4 August 2015 |url=http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article29940219.html |access-date=4 August 2015 |title=Mullah Omar worked as potato vendor to escape detection in Pakistan}}</ref> The United States offered a reward of US$10&nbsp;million for information leading to his capture.<ref name="rjfEnglish" />

In April 2004, Omar was interviewed via phone by Pakistani journalist Mohammed Shehzad.<ref name="rediff">{{cite web |title=The Rediff Interview/Mullah Omar |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/apr/12inter.htm |access-date=23 January 2013 |work=[[Rediff.com]] |date=12 April 2004}}</ref> During the interview, Omar claimed that [[Osama bin Laden]] was alive and well, and that his last contact with Bin Laden was months before the interview. Omar declared that the Taliban were "hunting Americans like pigs".<ref name="rediff" />

In the years following the allied invasion, numerous statements were released that were identified as coming from Omar. In June 2006, a statement regarding the death of [[Abu Musab al-Zarqawi]] in Iraq was released by Omar and in it, he hailed al-Zarqawi as a martyr and he also claimed that the resistance movements in Afghanistan and Iraq "will not be weakened".<ref>{{cite news |work=BBC News |date=9 June 2006 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5062964.stm |access-date=2 July 2006 |title=Taliban play down Zarqawi death}}</ref> Then, in December 2006, Omar reportedly issued a statement expressing confidence that foreign forces will be driven out of Afghanistan.<ref>{{Cite news |publisher=[[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al Jazeera]] |date=31 December 2006 |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2006/12/200852513171162862.html |access-date=1 January 2007 |title=Mullah Omar issues Eid message}}</ref>

In January 2007, it was reported that Omar made his "first exchange with a journalist since he went into hiding" in 2001 with [[Muhammad Hanif (Taliban spokesperson)|Muhammad Hanif]] via email and courier. In it he promised "more Afghan War", and he also said that the more than one hundred suicide bomb attacks which occurred in Afghanistan in the last year had been carried out by bombers who acted on religious orders which they received from the Taliban{{snd}}"the [[Mujahideen|mujahedeen]] do not take any action without a [[fatwa]]."<ref>{{cite news |author=Ismail Khan |author2=Carlotta Gall |date=5 January 2007 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/05/world/asia/05taliban.html |title=Taliban Leader Promises More Afghan War |newspaper=The New York Times |page=A4 |access-date=31 March 2013}}</ref> In April 2007, Omar issued another statement through an intermediary in which he encouraged more suicide attacks.<ref>{{cite news|work=Reuters|date=21 April 2007|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSISL330010._CH_.2400|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912064751/http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSISL330010._CH_.2400|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 September 2012|access-date=19 August 2009|title=Taliban's elusive leader urges more suicide raids}}</ref>

In November 2009, ''The Washington Times'' claimed that Omar, assisted by Pakistan's [[Inter-Services Intelligence]] (ISI), had moved back to Karachi in October.<ref>{{Cite news |first1=Eli |last1=Lake |last2=Carter |first2=Sara A. |last3=Slavin |first3=Barbara |title=EXCLUSIVE: Taliban chief hides in Pakistan |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/20/taliban-chief-takes-cover-in-pakistan-populace/ |work=[[The Washington Times]] |date=20 November 2009 |access-date=20 November 2009}}</ref> In January 2010, Brigadier [[Amir Sultan Tarar]], a retired officer with ISI who had previously trained Omar, said that he was ready to break with his al-Qaida allies and make peace in Afghanistan: "The moment he gets control, the first target will be the al-Qaida people."<ref>{{cite news |author=Declan Walsh |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/29/taliban-afghanistan-mullah-muhammad-omar |title=Afghan Taliban leader ready to end al-Qaida ties, says former trainer |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=31 July 2015 |access-date=31 March 2013}}</ref>

In January 2011, ''The Washington Post'', citing a report which was published by the [[Eclipse Group]], a privately operated intelligence network that may be contracted by the CIA, stated that Omar had a [[Myocardial infarction|heart attack]] on 7 January 2011. According to the report, Pakistan's ISI rushed Omar to a hospital near Karachi where he was operated on, treated, and then released several days later. Pakistan's Ambassador to the US, stated that the report "had no basis whatsoever".<ref>[[Agence France-Presse]], "Pakistan 'treated Taliban leader'", ''[[Japan Times]]'', 20 January 2011, p. 1.</ref>

On 23 May 2011, [[TOLO News]] in Afghanistan quoted unnamed sources as saying that Omar had been killed by ISI two days earlier. Taliban spokesman [[Zabihullah Mujahid]] responded to the report by stating, "He is in Afghanistan safe and sound."<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-omar-idUSTRE74M0O220110523 |work=Reuters |title=Afghan Taliban say leader Mullah Omar 'safe and sound' |date=23 May 2011}}</ref> On 20 July 2011, phone text messages which were delivered from accounts which were used by Mujahid and fellow spokesman [[Qari Mohammad Yousuf|Qari Mohammed Yousuf]] announced Omar's death. However, Mujahid and Yousuf quickly denied sending the messages and they claimed that their mobile phones, websites, and e-mail accounts had all been hacked, and they swore revenge on the telephone network providers.<ref>Shalizi, Hamid, [[Reuters]], "[https://web.archive.org/web/20110723120656/http://news.yahoo.com/taliban-mullah-omar-death-report-false-phone-hacked-033522641.html Taliban say Mullah Omar death report false, phone hacked]", [[Yahoo! News]], 20 July 2011.</ref> In 2012, it was revealed that an individual claiming to be Omar sent a letter to President Barack Obama in 2011, expressing slight interest in peace talks.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/9060564/Taliban-leader-Mullah-Omar-sent-letter-to-Barack-Obama.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/9060564/Taliban-leader-Mullah-Omar-sent-letter-to-Barack-Obama.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Taliban leader Mullah Omar 'sent letter to Barack Obama' |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=London |date=3 February 2012|access-date=3 February 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-afghanistan-taliban-letter-idUSTRE8121M520120203 |title=Amid peace bid, U.S. received purported letter from Taliban |work=Reuters |date=3 February 2012|access-date=3 February 2012}}</ref>

'''After Omar's confirmed death (April 2013):'''

On 31 May 2014, five senior Afghan detainees were released from the [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp]] in Cuba in return for the release of American prisoner of war Sergeant [[Bowe Bergdahl]]{{snd}}a person claiming to be Omar reportedly hailed their release.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-27655308 |work=BBC News |title=Bowe Bergdahl: Chuck Hagel praises release special forces |date=1 June 2014 |access-date=18 August 2014}}</ref>

In December 2014, acting Afghan intelligence chief [[Rahmatullah Nabil]] stated that he was not sure "whether Omar is alive or dead". This statement was made after the Afghan intelligence agency published reports in which it revealed that fracturing was occurring within the Taliban movement, leading some reporters to speculate that a leadership struggle had ensued because Omar had died.<ref>{{cite news |title=Taliban Supreme leader Mullah Omar has possibly died |newspaper= The Khaama Press News Agency |url= http://www.khaama.com/taliban-supreme-leader-mullah-omar-has-possibly-died-8778 |date=19 November 2014 |access-date=1 January 2015}}</ref> Later reports which were released by Afghan intelligence in December said that Omar had been hiding in Karachi. An anonymous European intelligence official stated that "there's a consensus among all three branches of the Afghan security forces that Omar is alive. Not only do they think he's alive, they say they have a good understanding of where exactly he is in Karachi."<ref>{{cite news |first=Matthew |last=Rosenberg |title=Around an Invisible Leader, Taliban Power Shifts |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/29/world/around-an-invisible-leader-taliban-power-shifts.html |date=28 December 2014 |page=A3 |access-date=1 January 2015}}</ref>

In April 2015, a man who claimed to be Mullah Omar issued a [[fatwa]] which decreed that pledges of allegiance to the [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]] (ISIS) are forbidden by Islamic law. The man described ISIS leader [[Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi]] as a "fake [[Caliphate|caliph]]", and he also said that "Baghdadi just wanted to dominate what has so far been achieved by the real jihadists of Islam after three decades of jihad. A pledge of allegiance to him is '[[haram]]'."<ref>{{cite web|title=Taliban leader: allegiance to ISIS 'haram'|url=http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/130420151|agency=Rudaw|date=13 April 2015 |access-date=31 July 2015}}</ref>