Explained: Who are the Haqqani network, the most powerful group in the Taliban government?

The Haqqani Network takes its name from the group’s leader, Jalaluddin Haqqani, who first fought the Soviet Army in Afghanistan as a staunch ally of the CIA and ISI, then fought US and US forces. NATO, while leading a protected existence. in North Waziristan, where Pakistan gave him and the whole group a safe haven.

Jalauddin’s death was reported to be of natural cause in September 2018, although he was said to have passed away years before. The mantle passed to his son Sirajuddin.

Haqqani network in the Afghan cabinet

SIRAJUDDIN HAQQANI, 48, is the new Home Secretary – an appointment that is a finger in the eye of the international community. He has been a UN designated global terrorist since 2007, and the FBI has a $ 10 million reward for information leading to his arrest. There are no recent photographs of him.

According to a 2010 report on the Haqqani Network of the American think tank Institute for the Study of War, Sirajuddin’s mother is an Arab woman who was Jalaluddin Haqqani’s second wife. They say she lives in a Gulf country.

Sirajuddin’s UN list indicates that he “participated in the financing, planning, facilitation, preparation or commission of acts or activities by, jointly with, on behalf of, name or in favor of the Taliban, al-Qaeda and Jaish -i-Mohammed.

He describes him as “one of the most prominent, influential, charismatic and experienced leaders of the Haqqani network … and has been one of the main operational commanders of the network since 2004. After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Sirajuddin Haqqani took over. control of the Haqqani network and has since led the group to the forefront of insurgent activities in Afghanistan ”.

According to the list, he derived much of his power and authority from his father, Jalaluddin Haqqani – who was also on the list and described as “an intermediary between al-Qaeda and the Taliban on both sides of the Afghan border. Pakistani ”. . Sirajuddin Haqqani was involved in the suicide bombing attack on a Police Academy bus in Kabul on June 18, 2007, which killed 35 police officers.

KHALIL-UR-REHMAN HAQQANI, Sirajuddin’s uncle, who was appointed Minister of Refugees, was listed as a terrorist in 2011. The list indicates that he visited the Gulf countries, as well as South and South Asia. Is to raise funds on behalf of the Taliban. and the Haqqani network.

He was reportedly one of the many people responsible for holding prisoners captured by the Taliban and the Haqqani network. The list also links him to al-Qaeda.

NAJIBULLAH HAQQANI, Minister of Communication, was inscribed on the list in 2001. He had also been a minister under the previous Taliban regime – first Deputy Minister of Public Works, then Deputy Minister of Finance. He was militarily active until 2010.

CHEIKH ABDUL BAQI HAQQANI, an associate of Jalaluddin Haqqani and the new Minister of Higher Education, is the only leader of the Haqqani network in government who has not been appointed by the UN Security Council. However, he was sanctioned by the European Union.

When he was appointed shadow minister of education last month, he reportedly said that even if girls could study, “all educational activities will be carried out in accordance with Sharia law.”

The deep roots of the Haqqani network in Af-Pak

Jalaluddin Haqqani, a member of the Zadran tribe from the Loya Paktia (Paktia, Paktika and Khost) region in eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan, was a member of the anti-communist and anti-Soviet Hizb-e-Islami, and became active as a mujahideen in the 1970s.

He is a former student of the Dar-ul-ulum madrassa, also known as the Jihad Factory, in Akhora Khattak, in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

As the Cold War frontier drew to Pakistan’s gates, he and several others were trained in Pakistan for jihad. When the Soviet army arrived, he was one of the trusted CIA mujahedin. Charlie Wilson, the US senator who collected money and weapons for the war, reportedly described him as “goodness personified.” During this time, he forged close ties with the ISI.

From a base in North Waziristan, Jalaluddin led guns and jihad fighters throughout the 1980s. This is also the time he meets Osama bin Laden in Miramshah, the seat city of North Waziristan. While receiving largesse from the CIA and ISI, Haqqani is also said to have raised his own funds from wealthy sheikhs in the Gulf countries and during his annual Haj pilgrimage.

Haqqani joined the Taliban in 1995, and he and his men fought alongside the Islamist movement against the various warring factions of the Mujahedin.

When the Taliban captured Kabul in 1996, he became minister of border and tribal affairs. The relationship between him and Mullah Omar was one of common interests, but it was not without clashes, Haqqani being irritated by the importance that Mullah Omar attached to his entourage close to Kandahar.

Haqqani network after 2001

After the overthrow of the Taliban regime by the United States and allied forces in 2001, the Haqqani family fled to Pakistan, where they are said to have taken refuge in their former stronghold of Miramshah in North Waziristan.

They would run a parallel administration there, taxing people and making money on construction contracts and real estate investments in the area. Another source of income was fundraising in the Gulf. Kidnapping for ransom was a major source of income, as was the smuggling of timber from Afghanistan to Pakistan.

In 2003, when the Taliban began to regroup, the Haqqani clan was at the heart of their efforts. By then, Sirajuddin had taken over most of the operational aspects of the Haqqani network from his father Jalaluddin.

Military observers attribute much of the Taliban’s success to the Haqqani network. The United States has often urged Pakistan to “do more” to eliminate the Haqqani network, but these efforts have remained superficial.

The aforementioned Institute for the Study of War report states that the Pakistani military has consistently refused to launch a military operation in North Waziristan despite the presence of senior al Qaeda leaders there.

Although reporting directly to the Taliban Supreme Council, the Haqqani network retained its own distinct identity.

Operational capacity; Al-Qaeda, relations with ISIS

As recently as May this year, a UN report described the Haqqani network as “the most combat-ready forces of the Taliban. [with] a core of highly skilled members who specialize in complex attacks and provide technical skills, such as constructing improvised explosive devices and rockets…. The Haqqani network remains a hub for awareness and cooperation with regional foreign terrorist groups and is the main link between the Taliban and Al-Qaida ”.

The Taliban Sanctions Review Committee report also noted that a member state reported a link between Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISIS-KP) and the Haqqani Network, but the Committee itself did not has not been able to confirm this. The link centered on ISIS-KP chief Shahab al-Muhajir, who “may also have previously been a mid-level commander in the Haqqani network”.

An earlier report of the Committee had stated that “a member state has suggested that some attacks may be denied by the Taliban and claimed by ISIL-K (such as ISIL-KP), without it being clear whether these attacks were purely orchestrated by the Haqqani network, or were joint ventures using ISIL-K agents ”.

Haqqani Network and India

The bombing of the Indian Embassy in 2008 in which a high-ranking diplomat and a military official stationed at the Embassy were killed among dozens of others, mostly Afghan civilians, was blamed by the American and Afghan intelligence services on the Haqqani network.

The National Directorate of Security, the intelligence agency of the former Afghan government, had provided interceptions of communications to Indian authorities that indicated Haqqani’s involvement, allegedly with ISI support. A similar claim was made by the CIA. Other reports have pointed to an involvement of Lashkar-e-Taiba, with the support of the Haqqani network.

The Haqqani network was also said to have been at the origin of attacks against Indian construction workers in Afghanistan during the years 2009-2012. The group’s long relationship and loyalty to the ISI make it an invaluable asset to Pakistan, according to security officials. The Indian security establishment is very concerned that Sirajuddin Haqqani is a member of the new Afghan government.