A prime chief within the Haqqani Community declared the group and the Taliban are one and the identical, opposite to the State Division’s makes an attempt to argue the 2 teams are “separate entities.”
Anas Haqqani, brother of a Haqqani Community member who is taken into account the Taliban’s deputy commander, bluntly instructed Newsline journal over the weekend: “We’re the Taliban.”
Anas “rejected the excellence between the Haqqanis and the Taliban,” telling the outlet that “any assaults his household was concerned in weren’t carried out independently however are consultant of your entire group.”
PENTAGON SAYS THERE IS ‘COMMINGLING’ OF HAQQANIS AND TALIBAN
He’s the son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, a now-deceased chief of the Haqqanis and eventual Taliban commander who had allied with and guarded al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden. Some proof exists that he could have helped bin Laden escape Afghanistan as the US invaded in late 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist assaults.
He’s additionally the brother of Taliban “deputy emir” Sirajuddin Haqqani and the nephew of Khalil Rahman Haqqani, one other prime Taliban chief who has reportedly been positioned in control of Kabul’s safety.
State Division spokesman Ned Worth was requested on Friday whether or not U.S. coordination on safety on the airport with the Taliban prolonged to the Haqqani community.
“No, it doesn’t,” he mentioned. “The Taliban and the Haqqani Community are separate entities.”
After a reporter famous that members of the Haqqani household had outstanding positions contained in the Taliban, Worth mentioned: “The Haqqani community is a chosen terrorist group. We’re not coordinating with the Haqqani Community.”
The Pentagon differed on the State Division’s stance the next day when spokesman John Kirby mentioned there was “a sure matter of commingling” between the teams, including, “I imply, there’s a marbling, if you’ll, of Taliban and Haqqani.”
The State Division reiterated its characterization Saturday, with a spokesman telling the Washington Examiner: “The Haqqani community and Taliban are separate entities, however they’re affiliated. The State Division has lengthy famous the affiliation between the Haqqani community and the Taliban.”
The Taliban, the Haqqani community, and al Qaeda are deeply intertwined in Afghanistan, and the Taliban have built-in Haqqani community leaders and fighters with al Qaeda hyperlinks into their command construction. The native Islamic State affiliate, ISIS-Ok, has lengthy clashed with the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan, claiming that Taliban rule is illegitimate.
13 U.S. service members and dozens of Afghan civilians and others had been killed in a suicide bombing outdoors Kabul airport Thursday. ISIS-Ok took duty for the assault.
Former Pakistani Taliban militants based ISIS-Ok. The group recruits Taliban defectors, and it appears to have some connections with the Haqqani community as nicely.
Anas was captured in 2014 after he had visited the so-called “Taliban 5” in Qatar, and he was delivered to Kabul, the place he’s believed to have been jailed on the Nationwide Directorate Providers headquarters after which the jail at Bagram Air Base. The Lengthy Battle Journal famous on the time that the Taliban claimed Anas was only a scholar who didn’t have any political affiliation.
Afghan intelligence officers contended when Anas was arrested that he was a key a part of the Haqqani Community’s rebel operations, together with its fundraising and technique, which Anas denies.
The Lengthy Battle Journal reported in September 2016 that the Taliban threatened to assault “judicial installations” in Afghanistan if the Afghan authorities went by with executing Anas, with the Taliban threatening that “a whole lot of blood shall be spilled and the federal government shall be accountable for all of it.”
“The Individuals … needed to place stress on my household,” Anas now says, with the outlet reporting that “Anas believes the cussed loyalty his father needed to the Taliban … led to his detention” and that, “he says he was taken hostage as a result of the U.S. needed to stress the Taliban to barter with the federal government in Kabul.”
The Taliban named Anas to its “peace discuss” negotiating crew in Doha in February 2019 when he was nonetheless imprisoned.
Anas and two different prime Haqqani members — Haji Malik Khan and Qari Abdul Rasheed — had been launched in November 2019 in a prisoner trade that included the Taliban releasing U.S. professor Kevin King and Australian professor Timothy Weeks. Now-deposed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani mentioned on the time that his authorities needed to “pay this bitter value” to free King and Weeks.
Anas continued to play a task within the Taliban’s negotiations in Doha at the least as lately as final September.
Anas spoke concerning the Haqqani function in U.S.-Taliban negotiations, telling the outlet: “Our household wanted to be current to disprove the allegations of there being a Haqqani Community, or that the Islamic Emirate was factionalized, or that we operated independently of it.” The “Islamic Emirate” is what the Taliban has lengthy known as itself.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, the “deputy emir” of the Taliban, “presently leads the day-to-day actions of the Haqqani Community,” in accordance with the State Division, which defined that “the Haqqani Community is allied with the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaeda.” Haqqani has been designated a terrorist by the U.S., with the State Division providing $10 million for his arrest.
The U.S. first designated the Haqqani community as a terrorist group in 2012.
