The State Department reaffirmed that the Taliban and the Haqqani network are “distinct” groups despite their ties and the fact that one of the top leaders of the terrorist group is now Afghanistan’s interior minister.
“The Haqqani network, which is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, and the Taliban are distinct entities, but they are affiliated. The State Department has long noted this affiliation,” a State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “The Taliban is a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity, and we have and will account for that, ensuring that all we do is consistent with U.S. law and policy.”
A number of members of the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network have received top positions in the Taliban’s “caretaker” government, including leader Sirajuddin Haqqani being picked as the acting interior minister. Haqqani, who is also the “deputy emir” of the Taliban, “currently leads the day-to-day activities of the Haqqani Network,” according to the State Department’s website, explaining that “the Haqqani Network is allied with the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaeda.” Haqqani has been designated as a terrorist by the United States, and the State Department’s Reward for Justice program is offering $10 million for his arrest. Anas Haqqani, Sirajuddin’s brother, said this month: “We are the Taliban.”
State Department spokesman Ned Price was asked last month whether U.S. coordination on airport security with the Taliban extended to the Haqqani network in Afghanistan.
“No, it does not,” Price said. “The Taliban and the Haqqani network are separate entities.” The State Department stands by its assessment.
FBI CONCERNED ABOUT HAQQANI TERRORIST HOLDING TOP TALIBAN POST
The Pentagon differed on the State Department’s stance the following day when spokesman John Kirby said there was “a certain matter of commingling” between the groups, adding, “I mean, there is a marbling, if you will, of Taliban and Haqqani.”
National security adviser Jake Sullivan acknowledged the ties in mid-August, saying, “The Taliban, obviously, to a considerable extent, are integrated with the Haqqani network.”
The Taliban, the Haqqani network, and al Qaeda are deeply intertwined in Afghanistan.
Sirajuddin Haqqani notably wrote a February 2020 opinion piece for the New York Times titled “What We, the Taliban, Want.”
“There is no truth to such claims and rumors at all; they are part of the war of rumors by the enemies of Islam,” Haqqani said in 2012 in reference to claims of division between the Taliban and the Haqqani network. “We are one of the fronts of the Islamic Emirate. … We obey completely in good deeds the Emir of the Believers Mullah Muhammad Omar.” Omar, now deceased, was the Taliban’s founder.
Sirajuddin Haqqani is the nephew of Khalil Rahman Haqqani, another top Taliban figure, whom the Treasury Department designated as a global terrorist in 2011 for allegedly “providing support to al Qaeda.” Khalil was named the acting minister for refugees, Abdul Baqi Haqqani was picked to be the acting minister of higher education, and Najibullah Haqqani will be the acting minister of telecommunication.
Sirajuddin Haqqani is also the son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, a now-deceased leader of the Haqqani network and an eventual Taliban commander who had allied with and protected al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.
In June, the United Nations released a report that called the Haqqani network “the primary component of the Taliban in dealing with al Qaeda.”
“Ties between the two groups remain close, based on ideological alignment, relationships forged through common struggle and intermarriage,” the report read.
The U.S. first designated the Haqqani network as a terrorist group in 2012.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday he was concerned about Sirajuddin Haqqani holding a key position in the Taliban’s “de facto” government, with Wray and other national security officials agreeing that the Taliban should be considered a “terrorist organization.”
Although executive orders have dubbed the Taliban a specially designated global terrorist group, the Afghan Taliban have notably not been designated as a foreign terrorist group, even though its Haqqani network and al Qaeda allies are. Republicans have been pushing the Biden administration to designate the Afghan Taliban as a foreign terrorist group, in part due to Haqqani’s role.
When asked about Wray’s comments and what it thinks about a terrorist holding a key Taliban role, the State Department told the Washington Examiner: “We are concerned by the affiliations and track records of some of the individuals announced. We understand that the Taliban has presented this as a caretaker cabinet. However, we will judge the Taliban by its actions.”
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There is also evidence of ties between the Haqqani network and ISIS-K, the local Islamic State affiliate responsible for the suicide bombing in August that killed 13 U.S. service members in Kabul, Afghanistan. A report from the U.N. in July said ISIS-K “was largely underground and clandestine” and is led by Shahab Muhajir, whom one member state says “may also have been previously a mid-level commander in the Haqqani Network.”
