Editing Mullah Omar (section)

== Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989) ==
{{Main|Soviet–Afghan War|Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)}}

After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Omar joined the [[Afghan mujahideen|mujahideen]] in Deh Rawood to fight the Soviets.<ref name=Mutmaen /> In 1983 he moved with mujahideen friends to [[Maywand District]] in Kandahar Province and fought under Faizullah Akhundzada, the commander of a group affiliated with [[Islamic and National Revolution Movement of Afghanistan|Harakat-i-Inqilab-i-Islami]] (Islamic and National Revolution Movement).<ref name=Mutmaen /> [[Abdul Ghani Baradar]] was another from Deh Rawood who was in the group.<ref name=Gopal_2017_p18>{{cite web |url= https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/201705-AGopal-ASvLinschoten-TB-Ideology.pdf |title=Ideology in the Afghan Taleban |first1=Anand |last1=Gopal |author-link1=Anand Gopal |first2=Alex |last2=Strick van Linschoten |date=June 2017 |publisher=Afghanistan Analysts Network |page=18 |access-date=26 September 2021}}</ref> Omar fought in the Maiwand, [[Zhari District|Zhari]], [[Panjwayi District|Panjwai]] and [[Dand District|Dand]] districts and was an expert in using [[rocket-propelled grenade]]s against [[tank]]s.<ref name=Mutmaen /> In the last years of the war, some mujahideen groups split up, and Omar and his friends left Faizullah Akhundzada's group. They formed a new group under Omar's leadership, based at Aday, in the [[Singesar]] area, then in the Panjwayi District and now in Zhari District, and became registered with Harakat-i-Inqilab-i-Islami as an affiliated group.<ref name=Mutmaen /> Omar was wounded four times. [[Abdul Salam Zaeef]] has said he was present when exploding shrapnel destroyed Omar's right eye at Singesar during the 1987 [[Battle of Arghandab (1987)|Battle of Arghandab]].<ref name="Abdul Salam Zaeef 2010" /> Other sources place this event in 1986<ref>Williams, Paul L., "Al Qaeda: Brotherhood of Terror", 2002</ref> or in the 1989 [[Civil war in Afghanistan (1989–1992)#Battle of Jalalabad|Battle of Jalalabad]].<ref name="Borchgrave, 2001, p. 226" /> Omar went to a hospital in [[Quetta]], Pakistan, for treatment to his eye wound.<ref name=Dam_Zomia /> According to former Taliban official Abdul Hai Mutmaen (or Mutma'in), this was the only time that Omar ever went to Pakistan, and that he returned after treatment.<ref name=Mutmaen /> According to Dutch journalist [[Bette Dam]], in research published in 2019, he went to Pakistan on one other occasion during the war, to fetch weapons following a dispute within his mujahideen group.<ref name=Dam_Zomia /> Mutmaen denies that Omar went there for weapons, but acknowledges that a few members of Omar's family claim he visited Pakistan four times during the war{{snd}}once for the injury, then to register his group, and two visits to injured friends.<ref name=Mutmaen />

=== Soviet withdrawal and fight against the Democratic Republic ===
The [[Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan|Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan]] in 1989. According to [[Ahmed Rashid]], Omar joined the mujahideen group [[Hezb-i Islami Khalis]] and fought under the command of Nek Mohammed against [[Mohammad Najibullah]]'s [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|communist regime]] between 1989 and 1992.<ref name="Rashid" />

After Najibullah's government collapsed in 1992, Omar and a group of mujahideen turned their base near Haji Ibrahim Mosque in Gheshano village, in the Singesar area, into a madrassa.<ref name=Mutmaen /><ref name=Zaeef_52>{{cite book |author=Abdul Salam Zaeef |date=2010 |editor-last1=Strick van Linschoten |editor-first1=Alex |editor-last2=Kuehn |editor-first2=Felix |title=My Life With the Taliban |location=London |publisher=Hurst |page=52}}</ref> As well as teaching there, Omar resumed his own studies that had been interrupted by the war.<ref name=Mutmaen /> Unlike many Afghan mujaheddin, Omar spoke Arabic.<ref>interview with Farraj Ismail, by Lawrence Wright in ''Looming Tower'', (2006), p.226</ref> He was devoted to the lectures of Sheikh [[Abdullah Azzam]].<ref>Wright, ''Looming Tower'', (2006), p. 226</ref>