US towards normalisation with the Taliban: Haqqani bounties removed
A million bounty was offered for Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the Haqqani network. For Taliban officials, this is a quid pro quo for the release of a US hostage, but according to some observers, Washington could reopen its embassy in Kabul. Meanwhile, the rift between the Haqqani network and Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is widening.
Kabul (AsiaNews) – The United States has removed bounties on three Taliban members of the Haqqani network, including the acting Interior Minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani,.
A US$ 10 million reward was offered for information leading to his arrest. He was wanted along with his brother, Abdul Aziz Haqqani, and a cousin, Yahya Haqqani, in connection with some of the most brutal attacks against the former Western-backed Afghan government.
The names of all three have disappeared from the US State Department's website on rewards for international terrorists. Abdul Aziz is Sirajuddin's deputy and is the head of the suicide brigade created by another brother, Badruddin, killed by a US drone in 2012.
According to Zakir Jalaly, an official with the Taliban Foreign Ministry, the removal of the bounties, done in return for the release of a US hostage, signals that both sides are “moving beyond the effects of the wartime phase and taking constructive steps to pave the way for progress” in bilateral relations.
“The recent developments in Afghanistan-U.S. relations are a good example of the pragmatic and realistic engagement between the two governments,” said Jalaly.
Anas Haqqani, another brother of Sirajuddin, welcomed the removal of the bounties and said he was confident that relations between the United States and the Taliban would become cordial.
According to several commentators, this is aimed at normalising the Taliban government after US pullout from Afghanistan and the Taliban return to power after two decades of war.
The first Trump administration signed the agreement with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, in 2020. The US negotiator at the time, Zalmay Khalilzad, is reportedly to be named US ambassador to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan if the US decides to reopen a diplomatic mission in Kabul.
In recent months, several countries have returned to interact with Afghanistan. Japan, for example, welcomed a Taliban delegation at the end of February, while other countries, such as China and Russia, agreed to receive Taliban diplomatic representatives.
“The U.S. has limited goals in Afghanistan — freeing hostages, retrieving equipment, and potentially seeking Taliban help in targeting ISIS. Removing the rewards could serve as an incentive,” said Michael Kugelman, director of the Wilson Center's Institute for South Asia.
“For the Taliban, the removal of sanctions is more important than (official) recognition. Sanctions bite. They inhibit your ability to do business, to travel. That’s why they would celebrate this as a victory. The transactional nature of this diplomacy suits both the Taliban and Trump,” said Ibraheem Bahiss, analyst at the International Crisis Group.
The US decision is also important because it signals Washington’s willingness to deal with the Haqqani leadership (considered more pragmatic) than the religious authorities in Kandahar, led by Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, who is still the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for the repression of Afghan women and girls.
“The administration seems to be banking on getting things done w/Taliban political leaders in Kabul while ignoring the supreme leadership in Kandahar. Makes sense; Kandahar doesn’t engage w/the West, and US asks (which avoid social/ideological issues) fall under Kabul’s portfolio,” Kugelman wrote on X (formerly twitter).
The rift between Sirajuddin Haqqani and Hibatullah Akhundzada is increasingly visible. Over the past year, the United Nations allowed Haqqani to travel abroad despite international sanctions against him.
The Taliban leader, who travelled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, stayed for more than a month along with other government representatives from the "pragmatic line" to escape the threats of the supreme leader.
Akhundzada is responsible for issuing dozens of edicts that have progressively reduced the rights of the Afghan people, in particular Afghan women, but also of a series of decrees that have progressively attempted to deprive Haqqani and his clique of their powers as ministers.
The Haqqani network had tried in recent months to oppose restrictions on women's rights more forcefully, in an attempt to obtain recognition of their government by the international community.
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