Founder of militant Haqqani network dies in Afghanistan, Taliban says
Reuters | Posted: September 4, 2018 10:47 AM | Last Updated: September 4, 2018
Group was founded in 1970s and fought Soviets in 1980s, then Americans after 2001 invasion
The founder of the militant Haqqani network, one of the most powerful and feared groups in the Afghan insurgency, has died after a long illness, the Taliban announced on Tuesday.
Jalaluddin Haqqani, who founded the network in the 1970s, relinquished operational leadership of the group some years ago to his son, Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is now deputy leader of the Afghan Taliban.
Afghan Defence Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Radmanish said the death was not expected to mean any major change for the Haqqani network, blamed by Afghan and U.S. security officials for some of the most devastating suicide attacks of the past decade.
Haqqani achieved prominence as a guerrilla leader in the U.S.-backed campaign against Soviet forces occupying Afghanistan during the 1980s, but later allied himself with the Taliban, fighting American troops after the Taliban was ousted in 2001.
His group became notorious for complex, well-organized attacks on both Afghan and U.S. military, as well as civilian targets and high-profile kidnappings.
U.S. and Afghan officials have said the group, based in Pakistan's North Waziristan region, operated with the support of Pakistani intelligence services. That charge is rejected by Pakistan, which has pointed to the network's early links to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
With hopes for peace talks raised by last June's unprecedented ceasefire, news of the death of one of the most notorious militant commanders comes at a sensitive time for both the Taliban and Kabul's Western-backed government.
The Taliban statement said he had been ill and bedridden for several years.
"If his excellency Haqqani Sahib has departed us physically, his ideology and methodology continue to endure," it said.