Kabul says U.S. bounty on top of senior Taliban officials, including Sirajuddin Haqqani

Kabul officials said on Sunday that the United States has canceled bounties from three senior Taliban figures, including the interior minister, who also leads a strong network that blames bloody attacks on a former Western-backed government in Afghanistan.

Sirajuddin Haqqani admitted to the January 2008 attack on Serena Hotel in Kabul, which killed six people, including U.S. citizen Thor David Hesla, and no longer appeared on the State Department’s judicial website. The FBI website still provided him with wanted posters Sunday.

Interior Department spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said the U.S. government has revoked the bounty of Haqqani, Abdul Aziz Haqqani and Yahya Haqqani.
“These three are two brothers and a father cousin,” Qani told the Associated Press.

After the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the Haqqani network grew into one of the most deadly weapons of the Taliban.

The group hired roadside bombs, suicide bomb bombs and other attacks, including Indian and U.S. embassies, Afghan presidency, and other major targets. They are also related to blackmail, kidnapping and other criminal activities. Foreign Ministry official Zakir Jalaly said the Taliban released U.S. prisoner George Glezmann on Friday, and the cancellation of the bounty shows that both sides are “surpassing the impact of the wartime phase and taking constructive steps to pave the way for progress”. “The latest developments in Afghanistan-US relations are a great example of pragmatic and realistic participation between the two governments,” Jalali said.

Another official, Shafi Azam, called the development the beginning of normalization in 2025, citing the Taliban announcement that it controlled the Afghan embassy in Norway.

China has been the most prominent country to accept one of the diplomats since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021. Other countries have accepted the de facto representation of the Taliban, such as Qatar, which has been a key mediator between the United States and the Taliban. The U.S. envoy also met the Taliban.

The Taliban rule, especially the ban that affects women and girls, has sparked widespread condemnation and deepened their international quarantine.

Haqqani has previously spoken about opposing the Taliban decision-making process, authoritarianism and the alienation of Afghan population.

His recovery on the international stage is contrary to the reclusive Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, who may have been arrested by the International Criminal Court for persecuting women.