Haqqani, who previously admitted to orchestrating the 2008
attack on Kabul’s Serena Hotel that killed six people, including American
citizen Thor David Hesla, no longer appears on the US State Department’s
Rewards for Justice Website.
According to Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani,
the US government revoked the bounties on Sirajuddin Haqqani, Abdul Aziz
Haqqani, and Yahya Haqqani. “These three individuals are two brothers and one
paternal cousin,” he told The Associated Press.
The Haqqani network, originally founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani, rose to
prominence as one of the most lethal arms of the Taliban following the US-led
invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
The group has been linked to a series of high-profile attacks
on the Indian and US embassies, the Afghan presidency, and other targets, and
has also been accused of engaging in extortion, kidnappings, and other criminal
activities.
Zakir Jalaly, a Foreign Ministry official in Kabul, said the
US decision to lift the bounties — coming just days after the release of
American prisoner George Glezmann — signaled a thaw in bilateral relations.
“Both sides are moving beyond the effects of the wartime
phase and taking constructive steps to pave the way for progress,” Jalaly said.
“The recent developments in Afghanistan-US relations are a good example of
pragmatic and realistic engagement.”
Shafi Azam, another official, welcomed the move as the
beginning of normalization, noting the Taliban’s recent assertion of control
over Afghanistan’s embassy in Norway as further evidence of diplomatic
progress.
Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban have
struggled with global isolation, worsened by their sweeping restrictions on
women and girls.
Only a few countries, including China and Qatar, have
formally or informally engaged with the Taliban diplomatically. The US has also
maintained indirect channels of communication.
Despite being under United Nations sanctions since 2007,
Sirajuddin Haqqani has traveled internationally in the past year. These trips,
made with UN clearance, were his first abroad since the Taliban’s return to
power.
Haqqani has also voiced rare public criticism of the
Taliban’s decision-making process, highlighting internal divisions within the
group’s leadership.
