The man who stood up just to protect the honor of two girls and Allah blessed that stance so much that today it has been established as a full-fledged Islamic state
In the spring of 1994, Afghanistan was in the midst of cha-os and civil war. Neighbors came to Mullah Mohammed Omar with news of a horrifying incident one so b-rut-al that even in the harsh reality of
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Afghanistan's 18-year-long conflict, it sent shockwaves through the region.
Two teenage girls from Omar's village of Sangesar had been abducted by an armed faction. At that time, various militant groups controlled vast areas of the Afghan countryside. The fighters shaved the girls' heads and took them to a checkpoint outside the village, where they were
subjected to b-rut-al a-bu-se and repeatedly as-sa-ult-ed.
At the time, Mullah Omar was an obscure figure - a former guerrilla commander who had fought against the Soviet occupation. Disillusioned by the chaos, looting, and lawlessness spread by rival armed factions after the war, he had returned to his village. Living as a talib (religious student) in a mud-walled madrasa, he spent most of his days teaching and memorizing the Qur'an. But the cries of those two girls would not allow him to remain silent. He gathered around 30 former guerrilla fighters. Together, they possessed only 16 Kalashnikov rifles. With those limited weapons, they launched an attack on the checkpoint, rescued the girls, and captured the checkpoint commander. The commander was e-xec-uted and hu-ng from the barrel of an old Soviet tank while chants of “Allahu Akbar" echoed around them. Mullah Omar reportedly ordered the tank barrel to be raised high, so the han-ging body would stand as a terrifying warning against oppression and brutality.
The incident in Sangesar later became part of Afghan folklore.
Within just two and a half years of taking up arms, Mullah Omar rose to become the dominant ruler over most of Afghanistan. The heavily built, one-eyed leader — who had lost his right eye during the anti-Soviet war - was addressed by his followers as Amir al-Mu'minin.
He was leading an Islamic movement known as the Ta-lib-an, which, within a short time, captured Kabul - the capital of Afghanistan - in 1996.