YET ANOTHER RADICAL GROUP SPREADS WINGS
Haqqani network rises amid Taliban’s takeover Kabul security head Haqqani designated as terrorist by US
The Talibans new self-proclaimed chief of security in Kabul, Khalil Haqqani of the Haqqani Network with close ties to Pakistans ISI, was designated as a terrorist by the US 10 years ago and is subject to a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.
In 2011, Mike Mullen, then top US military officer, had told the Congress that the Haqqani network was a "veritable arm" of the ISI, Pakistan's main intelligence service, NBC reported. The Taliban group was never designated by the US government as a terrorist organisation, but the Haqqani network, which has close ties to al-Qaeda and Pakistani intelligence, has long held that distinction.
The Haqqani network, which officials say functions like an organised crime family, has been blamed for the kidnapping of several Americans as part of a wide-ranging kidnap-for-ransom business, NBC reported. Khalil Haqqani has served as the group's chief of operations, said Doug London, who ran CIA counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan before he retired, the report said.
In that role, Haqqani approved suicide bombings against US forces and Afghan civilians, London said. He also was a CIA partner when the agency was arming and training the precursor to the Taliban against the Soviet invasion, London said, NBC reported. He was designated a terrorist by the US government in 2011.
Taliban's hostile takeover of Afghanistan had elevated one of the most violent and radical branches of Islamic terrorism, the Haqqani network, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The network is closely linked to al Qaeda and is involved in the hostage-taking of Westerners, and currently holds at least one American citizen captive, according to US officials.
"I do not believe that anyone in the West fully understands the reach of the Haqqani network," said retired Lt. Gen. Michael K. Nagata, a former director of strategy for the National Counterterrorism Center. "It is the single most impressive nonstate terrorist group I have ever seen, with the exception of ISIS in the first two years of the caliphate," he added.
A few days after the Taliban's victory, Khalil Haqqani, brother of the group's founder, Jalaluddin, addressed the faithful in public in Kabul's Pol-e Khishti Mosque last week--despite a USD 5 million
In 2011, Mike Mullen, then top US military officer, had told the Congress that the Haqqani network was a "veritable arm" of the ISI
US bounty on his head, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Khalil, along with his close aid, Anas Haqqani also met several former Afghan senior officials for talks about a more inclusive government that could gain international recognition.
The network's de facto leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, son of Jalaluddin, has also worked closely with bin Laden's top lieutenant and al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan, according to files recovered in bin Laden's compound in Pakistan.
"The Haqqanis expose the lie that there is a line between Taliban and other jihadist groups, especially al Qaeda," said H.R. McMaster, a national-security adviser in the Trump administration and former deputy commander for U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.
For the past number of years, Afghan officials have also accused the terrorists of the Haqqani network of facilitating deadly attacks on civilians by providing the Islamic State's local affiliate with technical assistance and access to criminal networks in Kabul, The Wall Street Journal said.