The Taliban has selected a designated terrorist, who the U.S. government has placed a $5 million bounty on, to be Afghanistan’s new interior minister.
Sirajuddin Haqqani “is head of the militant group known as the Haqqani network who are affiliated with the Taliban and have been behind some of the deadliest attacks in the country’s two-decade-long war – including a truck bomb explosion in Kabul in 2017 that killed more than 150 people,” the BBC reported. “Unlike the wider Taliban, the Haqqani network has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the US. It also maintains close ties to al-Qaeda.”
The FBI says that Sirajuddin Haqqani is “wanted for questioning in connection with the January 2008 attack on a hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed six people, including an American citizen.”
“He is believed to have coordinated and participated in cross-border attacks against United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan,” the FBI added. “Haqqani also allegedly was involved in the planning of the assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai in 2008.”
So, the #Taliban just appointed #Sirajuddin Haqqani as #Afghanistan's Interior Minister.
He's a U.S. "most wanted terrorist."
At least 3 other Haqqani's in the "cabinet," including another "most wanted" — Khalil Haqqani, who's Minister of Refugees. pic.twitter.com/f3QhKZa3iJ
— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) September 7, 2021
The office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) says that Sirajuddin Haqqani “currently leads the day-to-day activities” of the the Haqqani Network, which is a Sunni Islamist militant organization founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani.
ODNI added:
The Haqqani Network is primarily based in North Waziristan, Pakistan, and conducts cross-border operations into eastern Afghanistan and Kabul. The group is primarily composed of members of the Zadran tribe. The Haqqanis are considered the most lethal and sophisticated insurgent group targeting US, Coalition, and Afghan forces in Afghanistan; they typically conduct coordinated small-arms assaults coupled with rocket attacks, IEDs, suicide attacks, and attacks using bomb-laden vehicles.
The Haqqani Network is responsible for some of the highest-profile attacks of the Afghan war, including the June 2011 assault on the Kabul Intercontinental Hotel, conducted jointly with the Afghan Taliban, and two major suicide bombings—in 2008 and 2009—against the Indian Embassy in Kabul. In September 2011, the Haqqanis participated in a day-long assault against major targets in Kabul, including the US Embassy, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) headquarters, the Afghan Presidential Palace, and the Afghan National Directorate of Security headquarters. More recently, in October 2013, Afghan security forces intercepted a truck bomb deployed by the Haqqanis against Forward Operating Base Goode in Paktiya Province. The device, which did not detonate, contained some 61,500 pounds of explosives and was the largest truck bomb ever built. The group is also involved in a number of criminal activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan, including extortion, kidnapping for ransom, and smuggling.
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