US Lifts Bounties On Taliban’s Sirajuddin Haqqani, 2 Other Senior Officials: Report

<p>The United States has reportedly lifted bounties on three senior Taliban figures, including the interior minister who also heads a powerful network blamed for bloody attacks against Afghanistan&rsquo;s former Western-backed government, officials in Kabul said on Sunday, Associated Press reported.</p>
<p>As per the report, Sirajuddin Haqqani, who admitted to orchestrating the attack on Kabul’s Serena Hotel in January 2008 that claimed the lives of six people, including American citizen Thor David Hesla, no longer appears on the State Department&rsquo;s Rewards for Justice website. A wanted poster for him was still up on the Federal Bureau of Inveatigation (FBI) website on Sunday.</p>
<p>The US government has revoked the bounties placed on Haqqani, Abdul Aziz Haqqani, and Yahya Haqqani, Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said, according to AP. Qani told the AP, “These three people are two brothers and one paternal cousin.”</p>
<p>The Haqqani network grew into one of the deadliest arms of the Taliban after the US-led 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.</p>
<p>The group reportedly used suicide bombers, roadside bombs, and other attacks, notably against the Afghan presidency, the American and Indian embassies, and other important targets. They have also been connected to other criminal activities, including kidnapping and extortion.</p>
<h2>What Taliban-led Foreign Ministry Officials Said?</h2>
<p>The Taliban’s release of American prisoner George Glezmann and the lifting of bounties, according to Foreign Ministry official Zakir Jalaly, as reported by AP, demonstrated that both parties were ‘moving beyond the effects of the wartime phase and taking constructive steps to pave the way for progress’ in bilateral relations.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The recent developments in Afghanistan-U.S. relations are a good example of the pragmatic and realistic engagement between the two governments,&rdquo; said Jalaly, according to AP.</p>
<p>Another official, Shafi Azam, praised the move as the start of normalisation in 2025, pointing to the Taliban’s declaration that it now controls Afghanistan’s embassy in Norway.</p>
<p><strong>ALSO READ:<a href=”https://news.abplive.com/news/world/us-indian-origin-woman-saritha-ramaraju-kills-son-during-disneyland-vacation-1759813″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”> Embroiled In Custody Battle, Indian-Origin Woman Kills Son During Disneyland Vacation</a></strong></p>