Performing inside minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, speaks in the course of the funeral prayers of Khalil Haqqani, the minister for refugees and repatriation, throughout his funeral procession in japanese 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 stated Sunday.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, who acknowledged planning a January 2008 assault on the Serena Lodge in Kabul, which killed six folks, together with U.S. citizen Thor David Hesla, now not seems on the State Division’s Rewards for Justice web site. The FBI web site on Sunday nonetheless featured a wished poster for him.
Inside Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani stated the U.S. authorities had revoked the bounties positioned on Haqqani, Abdul Aziz Haqqani, and Yahya Haqqani.
“These three individuals 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, stated the Taliban’s launch of U.S. prisoner George Glezmann on Friday and the removing of bounties confirmed each side had been “moving beyond the effects of the wartime phase and taking constructive steps to pave the way for progress” in bilateral relations.
“The recent developments in Afghanistan-U.S. relations are a good example of the pragmatic and realistic engagement between the two governments,” stated Jalaly.
One other official, Shafi Azam, hailed the event as the start of normalization in 2025, citing the Taliban’s announcement it was accountable for Afghanistan’s embassy in Norway.
For the reason that Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, China has been essentially the most distinguished nation to simply accept certainly one of 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 girls 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 might face arrest by the Worldwide Prison Courtroom for his persecution of girls.
