The US Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program has offered a $10 million bounty for Osama Mehmood, the leader of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), and a $5 million reward for his deputy, Atif Yahya Ghouri. AQIS, which is based in Afghanistan with the support and approval of the Taliban, is a key Al Qaeda branch that facilitates the operations of the jihadist group’s central leadership and coordinates its operations in South and Central Asia, including in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, India, and Pakistan.
The State Department issued the rewards for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of Mehmood and Ghouri on November 24, 2025. The two senior AQIS leaders have served at the top echelon of the terror organization for nearly a decade.
The formation of AQIS was announced in September 2014 by Ayman al Zawahiri, who was the emir of Al Qaeda at the time. “A new branch of al-Qaeda was established and is Qaedat al-Jihad [Al Qaeda, Base of the Jihad] in the Indian Subcontinent, seeking to raise the flag of jihad, return the Islamic rule, and empowering the Shariah of Allah across the Indian subcontinent,” Zawahiri said in the opening of his video introducing the group.
Zawahiri clarified that AQIS “was not established today, but it is the fruit of a blessed effort for more than two years to gather the mujahideen in the Indian subcontinent into a single entity to be with the main group, Qaedat al-Jihad.”
Zawahiri also noted that “the soldiers of the Islamic Emirate [the Afghan Taliban] and its triumphant emir, Allah permitting, Emir of the Believers Mullah Muhammad Omar Mujahid” were part of AQIS. AQIS reported to the Afghan Taliban, Zawahiri stated.
Zawahiri was killed in a US drone strike while sheltering in a Taliban safe house in Kabul, Afghanistan, in July 2022, nearly one year after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
AQIS, Al Qaeda, and Afghanistan
Since its formation, AQIS has been involved in numerous terror attacks in the region, including an attempt to hijack Pakistani naval vessels and a plot to attack US and Indian warships. AQIS also fought alongside the Afghan Taliban to help it take control of Afghanistan in August 2021. Some AQIS commanders and fighters have been subsumed into the ranks of the Taliban’s military and security establishment, while some of the group’s leaders serve in the Taliban’s government.
The US government added AQIS to its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations in June 2016.
As top leaders in AQIS, Mehmood and Ghouri would have played a key role in supporting the Taliban and building Al Qaeda’s infrastructure in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda has established training camps in 13 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, as well as other key infrastructure, such as safe houses, religious schools, a media center, and a weapons storage depot.
Osama Mehmood
Mehmood took control of AQIS from Asim Umar, the group’s first emir, sometime before 2019. Umar appeared to have been given a senior leadership position within Al Qaeda’s general command before he was killed in a joint US and Afghan raid on a key Al Qaeda node in Helmand province in September 2019.
Prior to taking command of AQIS, Mehmood served as the group’s spokesman. He has appeared in multiple messages released by As Sahab, Al Qaeda’s official propaganda outlet. Mahmood, who is also known as Abu Zar, Atta Ullah, and Zar Wali, is a Pakistani national and is believed to be sheltering in Afghanistan.
The US listed Mehmood as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in December 2022.
Atif Yahya Ghouri
Ghouri is a Pakistani national who “studied at the International Islamic University, the same school attended by former AQIS deputy emir Ustad Ahmad Farooq,” according to State’s Rewards for Justice program. Ghouri replaced Farooq as the deputy AQIS emir after the latter was killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan in January 2015.
The US listed Ghouri as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in December 2022, the same day that Mehmood was listed.