Jalaluddin Haqqani ( ps, جلال الدين حقاني, Jalāl al-Dīn Ḥaqqānī) (1939 – 3 September 2018) was an Afghan insurgent commander who founded the
Haqqani network, an insurgent group fighting in
guerilla warfare against
US-led
NATO forces and the now former
government of Afghanistan
The government of Afghanistan, officially called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is the central government of Afghanistan, a unitary state. Under the leadership of the Taliban, the government is a theocracy and an emirate with political pow ...
they support.
He distinguished himself as an internationally sponsored
insurgent fighter in the 1980s during the
Soviet–Afghan War
The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...
, including in
Operation Magistral. He earned U.S. praise and was called "goodness personified" by the U.S. officials.
US officials have admitted that during the Soviet–Afghan War, he was a prized asset of the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
(CIA). Former U.S. president
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
called Jalaluddin Haqqani a "freedom fighter" during the Soviet–Afghan War. By 2004, he was directing pro-
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
insurgent group to launch a
holy war in Afghanistan. In 2016, U.S. Lieutenant General
John W. Nicholson Jr. claimed that the U.S. and NATO were not targeting Haqqani's network in Afghanistan.
Media reports emerged in late July 2015 that Haqqani had died the previous year. According to the reports, he died in Afghanistan and was buried in
Khost Province of Afghanistan. These reports were denied by the Taliban and some members of the Haqqani family.
On 3 September 2018, the Taliban released a statement announcing that Haqqani had died after a long illness in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...
.
Early life
Jalaluddin was born in 1939 in the village of Karezgay in the
Zadran District
Zadran District ( ps, د ځدراڼ ولسوالۍ) is a district of Paktia Province, Afghanistan. The district is within the heartland of the Zadran tribe of Pashtuns
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathan ...
of
Paktia Province, Afghanistan. He was an ethnic
Pashtun
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...
from the
Zadran tribe of
Khost
Khōst ( ps, خوست) is the capital of Khost Province in Afghanistan. It is the largest city in the southeastern part of the country, and also the largest in the region of Loya Paktia. To the south and east of Khost lie Waziristan and Kurram ...
. His father was a relatively wealthy landowner and trader. The family later moved to Sultankhel. He started advanced religious studies at
Darul Uloom Haqqania, a
Deobandi
Deobandi is a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam, adhering to the Hanafi school of law,
formed in the late 19th century around the Darul Uloom Madrassa in Deoband, India, from which the name derives,
by Muhammad Qasim Nanautav ...
Islamic seminary (
darul uloom), in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
in 1964. He graduated in 1970 with an advanced qualification that entitled him to the status of
mawlawi, and added "Haqqani" to his name, as some alumni of Darul Uloom Haqqania had done.
After
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...
Zahir Shah's exile and
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Daoud Khan
Mohammed Daoud Khan ( ps, ), also romanized as Daud Khan or Dawood Khan (18 July 1909 – 28 April 1978), was an Afghan politician and general who served as prime minister of Afghanistan from 1953 to 1963 and, as leader of the 1973 Afghan coup ...
rose to power in 1973, the political situation in Afghanistan began to slowly change. A number of parties, such as the
People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), ''Hezb-e dimūkrātĩk-e khalq-e Afghānistān'' was a Marxist–Leninist political party in Afghanistan established on 1 January 1965. Four members of the party won seats in the 1965 Afgh ...
(PDPA), and other people were seeking power. Haqqani was one of them, and after being suspected of plotting against the government, he went into exile and based himself in and around
Miranshah, Pakistan. From there he began to organise a rebellion against the government of Daoud Khan in 1975.
After the 1978
Marxist revolution by the PDPA, Haqqani joined the
Hezb-i Islami
Hezb-e-Islami (also ''Hezb-e Islami'', ''Hezb-i-Islami'', ''Hezbi-Islami'', ''Hezbi Islami''), lit. Islamic Party, was an Islamist organization that was commonly known for fighting the Communist Government of Afghanistan and their close ally ...
movement of Mawlawi
Mohammad Yunus Khalis
Mawlawi Mohammad Yunus Khalis (alternate spellings Yunis and Younas) ( ps, محمد يونس خالص; c. 1919 – 19 July 2006) was a mujahideen commander in Afghanistan during the Soviet–Afghan War. His party was called Hezb-i-Islami ("Isl ...
.
Military career
Mujahideen commander
In the 1980s, Jalaluddin Haqqani was cultivated as a "unilateral" asset of the
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
and received tens of millions of dollars in cash for his work in
fighting the Soviet-led Afghan forces in Afghanistan, according to an account in ''The Bin Ladens'', a 2008 book by
Steve Coll
Steve Coll (born October 8, 1958) is an American journalist, academic and executive.
He is currently the dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he is also the Henry R. Luce Professor of Journalism. A staff writer f ...
. He reputedly attracted generous support from prosperous Arab countries compared to other resistance leaders.
At that time, Haqqani helped and protected
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, his group is designated ...
, who was building his own militia to fight Soviet-backed Afghanistan.
The influential U.S. Congressman
Charlie Wilson, who helped to direct tens of millions of dollars to the Afghan Islamists, was so taken by Haqqani that he referred to him as "goodness personified".
Charles Wilson also desired to fire a
Stinger missile at one of the Soviet helicopters. Haqqani was happy to make Charles Wilson's wartime fantasy come true. They dragged chains and tires on road to create dust cloud which will attract the Soviet helicopters. However, none of the Soviet helicopters came and Charles Wilson was unable to fire any missile. This episode highlights the type of relationship which U.S. officials and Haqqani network used to share. He was a key US and Pakistani ally in resisting the Soviet-backed Afghanistan. Some news media outlets report that Haqqani even received an invitation to, and perhaps even visited, President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
's
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
,
although the photographs used to support the allegation of such a meeting have cast doubt that Haqqani ever visited the US.
(The pictures originally purporting to show this meeting are, in fact, of
Mohammad Yunus Khalis
Mawlawi Mohammad Yunus Khalis (alternate spellings Yunis and Younas) ( ps, محمد يونس خالص; c. 1919 – 19 July 2006) was a mujahideen commander in Afghanistan during the Soviet–Afghan War. His party was called Hezb-i-Islami ("Isl ...
.)
During the rule of
Najibullah in 1991, Haqqani captured the city of
Khost
Khōst ( ps, خوست) is the capital of Khost Province in Afghanistan. It is the largest city in the southeastern part of the country, and also the largest in the region of Loya Paktia. To the south and east of Khost lie Waziristan and Kurram ...
, which became the first communist city to fall to the jihadis.
After the fall of
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into #Districts, 22 municipal dist ...
to the
Mujahideen
''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term t ...
forces in 1992, he was appointed Justice Minister of the
Islamic State of Afghanistan, and refrained from taking sides in the fratricidal conflict that broke out between Afghan factions during the 1990s, a neutrality that was to earn him respect.
Relations with the Taliban
Haqqani was not an original member of the
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
; in 1995, just prior to the Taliban's occupation of Kabul, he switched his allegiance to them. In 1996–97, he served as a Taliban military commander north of Kabul, and was accused of
ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, and religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal, extermination, deportation or population transfer ...
against local Tajik populations. During the
Taliban government
The government of Afghanistan, officially called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is the central government of Afghanistan, a unitary state. Under the leadership of the Taliban, the government is a theocracy and an emirate with political p ...
, he served as the Minister of Borders and Tribal Affairs and governor of
Paktia Province.
[Summarized transcripts (.pdf)]
from Mohammad Gul's Combatant Status Review Tribunal
The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were estab ...
– – mirror – pages 1–12/ref>
In October 2001, Haqqani was named the Taliban's military commander. He may have had a role in expediting the escape of Osama Bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, his group is designated ...
. Initially the Americans tried to convince him to turn against the Taliban. He refused their offers on the grounds that, as a Muslim, he was duty bound to resist them as "infidel invaders", just as he had the Soviets in earlier decades. His base in Khost was attacked and four Guantanamo detainees— Abib Sarajuddin, Khan Zaman, Gul Zaman and Mohammad Gul—were captured and held because American intelligence officials received a report that one of them had briefly hosted Haqqani shortly after the fall of the Taliban.[ Summarized transcripts (.pdf) from Abib Sarajuddin's ]Combatant Status Review Tribunal
The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were estab ...
– pages 36–41[Summarized transcripts (.pdf)]
from Gul Zaman's Combatant Status Review Tribunal
The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were estab ...
–
mirror – pages 39–53/ref>
A September 2008 US airstrike that allegedly targeted Haqqani resulted in the deaths of between ten and twenty-three people. The missile hit the house of Haqqani in the village Dandi Darpa Khail in North Waziristan
North Waziristan District ( ps, شمالي وزیرستان ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanis ...
and a close by seminary
A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...
. The madrasah, though, was closed and Haqqani had previously left the area.[ Haqqani has been accused by the United States of involvement in the 2008 Indian embassy bombing in Kabul and the February 2009 Kabul raids.
]
Role in the Taliban insurgency
Haqqani was the commander, with his son Sirajuddin, of the Haqqani network.[
] The network is made up of resistance forces waging a jihad
Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with G ...
against US-led NATO forces and the Islamic republic
The term Islamic republic has been used in different ways. Some Muslim religious leaders have used it as the name for a theoretical form of Islamic theocratic government enforcing sharia, or laws compatible with sharia. The term has also been u ...
of Afghanistan. On 16 October 2011, "Operation Knife Edge" was launched by NATO and Afghan forces against the Haqqani network in south-eastern Afghanistan. Afghan Defense Minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, explained that the operation will "help eliminate the insurgents before they struck in areas along the troubled frontier". Both he and his son, Sirajuddin appear to have been the first Taliban to adopt the Iraqi tactic of using suicide bombers, and their network is accused of engaging in kidnappings, beheadings, the killing of women, and assassinations. George Gittoes
George Noel Gittoes, (born 7 December 1949) is an Australian artist, film producer, director and writer. In 1970, he was a founder of the Yellow House Artist Collective in Sydney. After the Yellow House finished, he established himself in B ...
, the Australian maker of Pashto-language films at his Yellow House in Jalalabad says Haqqani, who has befriended him, would be ready to support Ashraf Ghani in future Afghan elections.
Personal life
Haqqani was fluent in Persian, Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
, and his native Pashto language
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...
. He had two wives, a Pashtun wife and an Arab wife from the United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...
, and had at least seven sons:
* Sirajuddin Haqqani – A son of the Arab Emirati wife.[ He currently leads the day-to-day activities of the Haqqani network.
* Badruddin Haqqani – A son of the Pashtun wife.][ He was an operational commander of the network. He was killed in a US ]drone strike
Drone warfare is a form of aerial warfare using unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) or weaponized commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The United States, United Kingdom, Israel, China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, France, India, Pakist ...
on 24 August 2012 in North Waziristan
North Waziristan District ( ps, شمالي وزیرستان ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanis ...
. Badruddin was targeted and killed by US forces for planning and directing the deadly suicidal VBED operation carried out in south Kabul on May 18, 2010. The attack killed 5 American and 1 Canadian service members, as well as a dozen or more Afghan civilians who were innocently going about their own business along the road.
* Nasiruddin Haqqani – A son of the Arab Emirati wife. He was a key financier and emissary of the network. He spoke fluent Arabic and traveled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for fundraising. He was killed by unknown assailants in Bhara Kahu, in the eastern part of the Islamabad Capital Territory
The Islamabad Capital Territory ( ur, , translit=Vafāqī Dār-alhakūmat) is the only federal territory of Pakistan. Located between the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it includes the country's capital city of Islamabad. The t ...
, Pakistan, on 11 November 2013.
* Mohammed Haqqani (born 1988) – A son of the Pashtun wife.[ He was a military commander of the network and was killed in a US drone strike on 18 February 2010 in North Waziristan.
* Omar Haqqani – He was killed leading Haqqani network fighters during a US military operation in ]Khost
Khōst ( ps, خوست) is the capital of Khost Province in Afghanistan. It is the largest city in the southeastern part of the country, and also the largest in the region of Loya Paktia. To the south and east of Khost lie Waziristan and Kurram ...
province in July 2008.
* Aziz Haqqani – A key leader of the network.
* Anas Haqqani – A son of the Arab Emirati wife.[ Senior member of the network. He was arrested on 15 October 2014 by the Afghan forces, and sentenced to death in 2016. He was released in a prisoner swap in November 2019.
]
Death
On 3 September 2018, the Taliban released a statement via Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
proclaiming Haqqani's death of an unspecified terminal illness in Afghanistan. He was buried in Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...
.
References
External links
*
Biography of Jalaluddin Haqqani
Afghanistan Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haqqani, Jalaluddin
1939 births
2018 deaths
Deobandis
Haqqani network
Place of birth missing
Pashtun people
Afghan Sunni Muslims
Mujahideen members of the Soviet–Afghan War
Leaders of Islamic terror groups
People from Paktia Province
CIA and Islamism
Taliban leaders