Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund (ملا محمد حسن اخوند) is the current Acting Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan since 7 September 2021. Before his appointment, the Kandahar-born Mullah Akhund was first the foreign minister and then deputy prime minister during the Taliban’s 1996–2001 rule and is the longtime head of the group’s powerful decision-making body Rehbari Shura (leadership council). Mullah Akhund has Pashtun lineage from Ahmad Shah Durrani. He is the author of several works on Islam and is on a United Nations sanctions list.