ISLAMABAD: Afghan Taliban acting minister for refugees and repatriation Khalil-ur-Rehman Haqqani was killed along with four others in a suicide bombing inside his ministry’s building in central Kabul on Wednesday, Taliban authorities said.
This is the first time a high-profile sitting minister has been killed since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021. Khalil (58) was a key member of the Haqqani network, which led a violent insurgency against the US and its allies before the American withdrawal in 2021. He was the brother of the late Jalaluddin Haqqani, founder of the Haqqani network, and the uncle of incumbent interior (home) minister Sirajuddin Haqqani.
No group had claimed responsibility for the attack at the time of going to press but Taliban officials face opposition from ISKP (Islamic State Khurasan Province), and from the National Resistance Front, an anti-Taliban movement led by former officials of the previous toppled Afghan government.
CNN quoted a ministry spokesperson as saying a suicide bomber disguised as a visitor had gained access to the building and had detonated the bomb while Haqqani was signing paperwork.
In the early days of the takeover, Khalil was one of the key figures who had engaged with other Afghan leaders, including former president Hamid Karzai, ex-chief executive Abdullah Abdullah and Hizb-e-Islami chief Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
“We have received with great sadness the news that the minister of refugees of the Islamic Emirate, Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani, was martyred this afternoon in a barbaric attack by the Kharijites (enemies),” said a statement issued by Kabul police, adding that four others were also killed in the explosion. According to reports from Kabul, the death toll could escalate as several people have been admitted to local hospitals.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban administration’s chief spokesman, said Haqqani was killed in an explosion at the ministry of refugees and repatriation in Kabul. Mujahid said that “infidels” who claim to be Muslims were responsible for Wednesday’s attack. In a post on ‘X’, he called the killing an “irreparable loss to the Islamic Emirate”, using the Taliban’s official name for Afghanistan.
Speaking to TOI, Afghan journalist Nur Rehman Sherzad said Haqqani’s assassination took place in one of the most secure places under his supervision. “Since it would be difficult to break the ministry’s strong security, it is likely that someone from his inner circle, or with their participation, carried out the attack,” Sherzad added.
Mujahid cited a US reward of up to $5 million for information on Khalil Haqqani, who it had classified as a specially designated global terrorist in 2011, but he did not explicitly blame the US authorities for his apparent assassination. The Taliban spokesperson vowed that such cowardly acts would not weaken the resolve of Muslims nor help the conspirators achieve their “evil goals” against their Islamic system. Instead, he said, such actions only darken the faces of the enemies of Islam and expose their malicious intentions.
Although the Haqqanis have long held sway inside the Taliban, they recently seemed to lose ground due to rumours of a falling out between Sirajuddin Haqqani and Taliban regime head Hibatullah Akhundzada.
