US lifts $10m reward for main Taliban chief Haqqani
The removing of the bounty comes days after Afghan group releases US citizen.
The USA has lifted a $10m reward for info resulting in the arrest of a serious Taliban chief, Sirajuddin Haqqani, an Afghan Ministry of Inside Affairs spokesperson says.
Regardless of the announcement on Saturday, the FBI nonetheless lists the reward on its web site, saying Haqqani was “believed to have coordinated and took part in cross-border assaults in opposition to United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan”.
The transfer comes after the Taliban on Thursday launched a US citizen who had been stored in captivity for 2 years.
The discharge of George Glezmann, who was kidnapped whereas travelling as a vacationer in Afghanistan in December 2022, marks the third time a US detainee has been freed by the Taliban since January.
In an announcement, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned Glezmann’s launch represented a “optimistic and constructive step”. He additionally thanked Qatar for its “instrumental” function in securing the discharge.
The Taliban has beforehand described the discharge of US detainees as a part of its world “normalisation” effort.
The group stays a world pariah since its lightning takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021. No nation has formally recognised the Taliban authorities though a number of nations proceed to function diplomatic amenities within the nation.
The Taliban takeover got here as former US President Joe Biden’s administration oversaw a withdrawal outlined by the primary administration of President Donald Trump.
The US president had negotiated with the Taliban in 2020 to finish the battle in Afghanistan, and he agreed to a 14-month deadline to withdraw US troops and allied forces.
The settlement was contentious for leaving out the Western-backed Afghan authorities, which was toppled through the chaotic US exit from the nation in 2021.
Haqqani, the son of a famed commander from the battle in opposition to the Soviets, was head of the highly effective Haqqani Community, a US-designated “terror group” lengthy considered as one of the crucial harmful armed teams in Afghanistan.
It’s notorious for its use of suicide bombers and is believed to have orchestrated a few of the most high-profile assaults in Kabul through the years.
The community can be accused of assassinating high Afghan officers and holding kidnapped Western residents for ransom, together with US soldier Bowe Bergdahl, launched in 2014.
Haqqani had continued to be on the US radar even after the Taliban takeover. In 2022, a US drone strike in Kabul killed then-al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri. The home through which al-Zawahiri was killed was a house for Haqqani, in keeping with US officers.
