The US launches bonuses of key Taliban leaders

The United States has removed millions of dollars in bonuses from senior Haqqani military network members in Afghanistan, including one of its leader Sirajuddin Hakkani, who is also the interior minister of the Taliban government.

A significant move is that the Haqqani network has been accused of carrying out some of the highest-ranking and deadly attacks in Afghanistan during the US-led war, including attacks on US and Indian Embassies and NATO Forces.

The network is currently a key part of the Taliban government, which controls Afghanistan since foreign troops withdrew from the country in 2021, following a deal between the US and the Taliban during President Trump’s first term.

The move to raise generosity comes weeks in President Trump’s second term, and just days after US officials met with the Taliban government in Kabul to ensure the release of an American tourist detained since 2022.

The US Department of State spokesman has confirmed to the BBC that there is no “current prize” for Siraddin Hakan, his brother Abdul Aziz Hakkani and Zet Yaha Hakani, but they remain “specially marked global terrorists and the Hakan network remains defined as a foreign terrorist organization.”

A FBI web page, which on Monday showed a $ 10 million award at Sirajuddin Haqqani, has already been updated to remove the prize proposal.

Taliban Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Matein Kani told the BBC that raising generousness “is the result of continuing diplomatic efforts” by his government. “This is a good step and this shows our new interaction with the world, and especially with the United States. They (the US delegation) have told us that they want to increase the positive interaction and confidence between us,” he added.

On Saturday, an American delegation, including hostage envoys, Adam Boller and a former envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Halil Zad, met with Taliban Government Minister Amir Han Mutaki and other Taliban officials in Kabul. Then, National George Glezman, He was detained in December 2022 while visiting Afghanistan as a tourist, he was released by the Taliban government.

It is unclear whether lifting generosity is part of the negotiations.

Founded by the father of Sirajuddin Hakani, Jalaluddin Hakani in the 1980s, the Hakkani network began as an anti-Soviet team supported by the CIA, operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it has grown into one of the worst anti-Western belligerent organizations in the region.

The group allied with the Taliban when they first took power in Afghanistan in 1996. Jalaluddin Hakani died of prolonged illness in 2018.

Currently, Sirajuddin Hacani emerges as a center of power in the Afghan government of the Taliban, as a break between him and the supreme leader of the Taliban Mula Hibatula Akhundzada are growing.

The members of the Taliban government told the BBC that the issue of women’s education is a key point of disagreement between the two countries.

Haqqanis sought to design as more moderate, galvanized support among people in the country who are disappointed with the relentlessness of the supreme leader in women’s education.

The descent of generosity from the US government is proof that its growth is also growing outwardly, among parts of the international community wishing to engage with the Taliban.

Additional reporting from Mahfouz Zubaide and Bernd Debusmann