Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 5 september 2018
Taliban say founder of Haqqani network dies in Afghanistan

By KATHY GANNON including the new head of
Associated Press al-Qaida Ayman al Zawah-
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The ri, are believed to be pro-
founder of Afghanistan's tected by the Haqqani net-
much-feared Haqqani work, which it is believed
network, a former U.S. ally they also help fund.
turned fierce enemy, has Haqqani developed close
died after years of ill health, ties with Pakistan's intel-
a Taliban spokesman ligence service known by
said Tuesday. Jalaluddin the acronym ISI as well as
Haqqani was 71. Pakistani militant groups,
Haqqani died Monday many of whom were being
inside Afghanistan, Zabi- groomed by the ISI to fight
hullah Mujahed told The neighbor India in the dis-
Associated Press in a tele- puted Kashmir region.
phone interview. The el- Fazlur Rehman Khalil,
derly founder of the out- founder of the outlawed
lawed Afghanistan-based Harakat-ul Mujahedeen
organization, once hailed After the Russians left and
as a freedom fighter by U.S. Afghanistan's commu-
President Ronald Reagan, nist government fell to the
had been paralyzed for the U.S.-backed mujahedeen,
past 10 years. Haqqani served briefly as
In announcing his death justice minister. He soon
Tuesday, Mujahed called abandoned the mujahe-
Haqqani a religious scholar deen government frustrat-
and exemplary warrior. ed by their relentless feud-
Because of his infirmity, ing and returned to Khost
Haqqani's network has where he maintained close
been led by his son Sira- In this Aug. 22, 1998, file photo, Jalaluddin Haqqani, founder of the militant group the Haqqani contact with militants, in-
juddin Haqqani, who is network, speaks during an interview in Miram Shah, Pakistan. cluding bin Laden, from
also deputy head of the Associated Press Arabic speaking countries.
Taliban. Considered the After taking power in Sep-
most formidable of the the mujahedeen. when he studied a deeply that brought him attention tember 1996, the Taliban
Taliban's fighting forces, In 2012 the United States conservative form of Islam from both the United States embraced Haqqani for his
the Haqqani network has declared the Haqqani at the Darulaman Haqqa- and Pakistan. He received military skills, according to
been linked to some of the network a terrorist organi- nia madrassa, or religious both money and weapons a declassified 1998 cable
more audacious attacks zation. Haqqani had not school, in northwest Paki- from the U.S. from the U.S. Embassy. That
in Afghanistan. The elder been heard from in sever- stan. In an earlier interview While the Soviet Union cable also said Haqqani "is
Haqqani joined the Taliban al years and reports of his with The Associated Press, poured men and money close buddies with many
when they overran Kabul death were widespread in the school's top cleric Mau- into Afghanistan to support Arab and Pakistani Is-
in September 1996, expel- 2015. lana Sami-ul-Haq, recalled the Communist govern- lamists."
ling feuding mujahedeen Declassified U.S. cables a studious Haqqani. ment in Kabul, Pakistan, the In August 1998, U.S. cruise
groups, whose battles left called Haqqani a "moder- It was Haqqani's rigid in- United States and several missiles targeted Haqqani's
the capital in ruins. ate socialist" who did not terpretation of Islam that Arab states including Saudi base in a failed attempt to
Since then, the network has embrace the Taliban's strict launched him on the road Arabia and Egypt, stock- kill bin Laden. Several Paki-
been among the fiercest rules that denied girls edu- to insurgency in the early piled weapons for the mu- stani militants affiliated with
foes fighting U.S. and NATO cation. "Haqqani functions 1970s when he returned to jahedeen in neighboring Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen
troops in Afghanistan. The more in the military area, Afghanistan to open a ma- Pakistan. Suitcases full of group were killed in that at-
elder Haqqani's death is and is not a force in setting drassa, or religious school, cash were delivered to the tack.
not expected to impact Taliban political or social is- and organized a move- mujahedeen through Paki- "It makes me sad that he is
the network's military might sues," the cables read. ment against Afghanistan's stan, according to a former no longer among us," Fazlur
or strategy. Born in 1947 into the pow- monarch, King Zahir Shah, CIA chief, who spoke on Rehman Khalil, co-founder
Haqqani was among the erful Zardran tribe that according to unclassi- condition of anonymity. He of the outlawed Harakat-ul
Afghan mujahedeen, or dominates southeastern fied U.S. documents that told The AP he personally Mujahedeen said Tuesday
holy warriors, the United Afghanistan's Paktia, Pak- tracked Haqqani's militant delivered suitcases full of after hearing the news of
States backed in the 1980s tika and Khost provinces, career from the early 1970s money to Haqqani, whom Haqqani's death. Khalil lives
to fight the former Soviet Haqqani was a close friend to his partnership with the he described as "one of the freely on the outskirts of the
Union's invading army, sent of Osama bin Laden, who Taliban in 1996. good ones." Pakistani capital of Islam-
to Afghanistan in 1979 to often took refuge in his Forced to leave Afghani- It was during the 1980s abad, currently promoting
prop up the pro-Moscow camps outside Khost. stan because of his agita- that fighters from the Mus- a fatwa or religious edict
government. Haqqani The father of 12 sons, the tion against the monarchy, lim world were recruited banning militant violence
was praised by the late ailing Haqqani — who had which was eventually over- to fight the invading com- in Pakistan.
U.S. Congressman Charlie been suffering from Par- thrown, Haqqani set up a munists in Afghanistan. Bin In November 2001, when
Wilson as "goodness per- kinson disease for several madrassa in Miran Shah, in Laden was among the first the Taliban were routed
sonified." After 10 years, years prior to his death — Pakistan's North Waziristan. to sign up. Many of the from Kabul, Haqqani was
Moscow negotiated an had turned the day-to-day During the 1980s, when Arab fighters gravitated to- ordered by Mullah Omar to
exit from Afghanistan in an military campaign over to Washington backed an up- ward Haqqani because he move the Arab fighters to
agreement that eventu- his son Sirajuddin. rising against the commu- was an Arabic speaker and safety.
ally led to the collapse of The elder Haqqani's asso- nist government in Kabul a ferocious warrior. Haqqani had proven to be
Kabul's communist govern- ciation with Pakistan dates and its Russian allies, it was Many of the Arab fighters, among the most resilient of
ment and a takeover by back to his early years, Haqqani's military prowess who remain in Afghanistan, Afghanistan's insurgents.q