Taliban confirms death of Haqqani founder
THE founder of the Haqqani network, one of Afghanistan’s most effective and brutal militant groups, has died after a long illness, their affiliates the Afghan Taliban announced on Tuesday.
Jalaluddin Haqqani, a one-time CIA asset whose group became a top US target, spent decades working with groups such as Al Qaeda and the Taliban to entrench jihad in the conflictracked region.
Despite his fearsome reputation, his death is not expected to have an impact on the extremist group’s operations.
Jalaluddin, thought to be in his 70s or 80s, had been bedridden for years and had already passed the leadership to his son Sirajuddin.
Jalaluddin “was ill and bedridden for the past several years”, the Taliban said in a statement posted on Twitter.
It did not specify where or when he died.
There had been rumours of his death before, in 2008 and 2015, though this was the first time the Taliban have issued a statement on it.
Afghan and foreign analysts and diplomats played down the significance of Jalaluddin’s death for the group’s operations. Analyst Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center in Washington tweeted: “Given how long he’d been ill, his death won’t have a big impact on the war.”
“His death is not going to affect the network or Taliban operations because he was not an active member,” Afghan political analyst Atta Noori said.
Washington has long pressured Islamabad to crack down on militant groups, particularly the Haqqanis. On Saturday the Pentagon announced it was cancelling $300 million in aid to Pakistan because of its lack of “decisive” action.
But Jalaluddin’s son Sirajuddin was running the network “with major ISI involvement”, a foreign diplomat in Kabul said, referring to Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence.
“I doubt anything will change,” he said.
Designated a terrorist group by the US, the Haqqanis were blamed for the devastating truck bomb in Kabul in May 2017 that killed around 150 people – though Sirajuddin later denied involvement in a rare audio message.
The network has also been accused of assassinating top Afghan officials and holding Westerners for ransom.
They include the Canadian Joshua Boyle, his American wife Caitlan Coleman, and their three children who were released last year, as well as US soldier Bowe Bergdahl, who was freed in 2014.