The US has lifted bounties on three senior Taliban figures, together with the inside minister who additionally heads a robust community blamed for bloody assaults in opposition to Afghanistan’s former Western-backed authorities, officers in Kabul mentioned Sunday.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, who acknowledged planning a January 2008 assault on the Serena Lodge in Kabul, which killed six folks, together with US citizen Thor David Hesla, now not seems on the State Division’s Rewards for Justice web site. The FBI web site on Sunday nonetheless featured a wished poster for him.
Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani mentioned the US authorities had revoked the bounties positioned on Haqqani, Abdul Aziz Haqqani, and Yahya Haqqani.
“These three people are two brothers and one paternal cousin,” Qani informed the Related Press.
The Haqqani community grew into one of many deadliest arms of the Taliban after the US-led 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.
The group employed roadside bombs, suicide bombings and different assaults, together with on the Indian and US embassies, the Afghan presidency, and different main targets. Additionally they have been linked to extortion, kidnapping and different felony exercise.
A Overseas Ministry official, Zakir Jalaly, mentioned the Taliban’s launch of US prisoner George Glezmann on Friday and the elimination of bounties confirmed each side have been “transferring past the results of the wartime part and taking constructive steps to pave the best way for progress” in bilateral relations.
“The current developments in Afghanistan-US relations are an excellent instance of the pragmatic and reasonable engagement between the 2 governments,” mentioned Jalaly.
One other official, Shafi Azam, hailed the event as the start of normalization in 2025, citing the Taliban’s announcement it was in charge of Afghanistan’s embassy in Norway.
For the reason that Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, China has been essentially the most outstanding nation to simply accept considered one of their diplomats. Different international locations have accepted de facto Taliban representatives, like Qatar, which has been a key mediator between the US and the Taliban. US envoys have additionally met the Taliban.
The Taliban’s rule, particularly bans affecting girls and ladies, has triggered widespread condemnation and deepened their worldwide isolation.
Haqqani has beforehand spoken out in opposition to the Taliban’s decision-making course of, authoritarianism, and alienation of the Afghan inhabitants.
His rehabilitation on the worldwide stage is in distinction to the standing of the reclusive Taliban chief Hibatullah Akhundzada, who might face arrest by the Worldwide Legal Courtroom for his persecution of ladies.
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