Performing inside minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, speaks through the funeral prayers of Khalil Haqqani, the minister for refugees and repatriation, throughout his funeral procession in jap Paktia province, Afghanistan, Dec. 12, 2024.
Saifullah Zahir/AP
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Saifullah Zahir/AP
The U.S. has lifted bounties on three senior Taliban figures, together with the inside minister who additionally heads a robust community blamed for bloody assaults in opposition to Afghanistan’s former Western-backed authorities, officers in Kabul mentioned Sunday.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, who acknowledged planning a January 2008 assault on the Serena Lodge in Kabul, which killed six individuals, together with U.S. citizen Thor David Hesla, not seems on the State Division’s Rewards for Justice web site. The FBI web site on Sunday nonetheless featured a needed poster for him.
Inside Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani mentioned the U.S. authorities had revoked the bounties positioned on Haqqani, Abdul Aziz Haqqani, and Yahya Haqqani.
“These three people are two brothers and one paternal cousin,” Qani advised the Related Press.
The Haqqani community grew into one of many deadliest arms of the Taliban after the U.S.-led 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.
The group employed roadside bombs, suicide bombings and different assaults, together with on the Indian and U.S. embassies, the Afghan presidency, and different main targets. Additionally they have been linked to extortion, kidnapping and different prison exercise.
A Overseas Ministry official, Zakir Jalaly, mentioned the Taliban’s launch of U.S. prisoner George Glezmann on Friday and the removing of bounties confirmed each side have been “transferring past the consequences of the wartime section and taking constructive steps to pave the way in which for progress” in bilateral relations.
“The latest developments in Afghanistan-U.S. relations are a very good instance of the pragmatic and practical engagement between the 2 governments,” mentioned Jalaly.
One other official, Shafi Azam, hailed the event as the start of normalization in 2025, citing the Taliban’s announcement it was answerable for Afghanistan’s embassy in Norway.
For the reason that Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, China has been essentially the most outstanding nation to simply accept one in all their diplomats. Different nations have accepted de facto Taliban representatives, like Qatar, which has been a key mediator between the U.S. and the Taliban. U.S. envoys have additionally met the Taliban.
The Taliban’s rule, particularly bans affecting ladies and women, has triggered widespread condemnation and deepened their worldwide isolation.
Haqqani has beforehand spoken out in opposition to the Taliban’s decision-making course of, authoritarianism, and alienation of the Afghan inhabitants.
His rehabilitation on the worldwide stage is in distinction to the standing of the reclusive Taliban chief Hibatullah Akhundzada, who may face arrest by the Worldwide Legal Court docket for his persecution of girls.
