The U.S. lifts bounties on senior Taliban officers, says Kabul : NPR
Performing inside minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, speaks throughout 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 strong 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 Resort in Kabul, which killed six individuals, 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 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. In addition they have been linked to extortion, kidnapping and different legal exercise.
A International 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 “shifting past the results of the wartime part and taking constructive steps to pave the best way for progress” in bilateral relations.
“The latest developments in Afghanistan-U.S. relations are an excellent instance of the pragmatic and lifelike engagement between the 2 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 answerable for Afghanistan’s embassy in Norway.
Because the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, China has been probably the most distinguished nation to simply accept certainly one of their diplomats. Different international locations 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 ladies, 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 Felony Court docket for his persecution of girls.
