US lifts bounties on senior Taliban officials, including Sirajuddin Haqqani, states Kabul

WASHINGTON: The US has lifted bounties on three senior Taliban figures, including the interior minister who also heads a powerful network blamed for bloody attacks against Afghanistan’s former Western-backed government, officials in Kabul said on Sunday.

Sirajuddin Haqqani, who acknowledged planning a January 2008 attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul, which killed six people, including US citizen Thor David Hesla, no longer appears on the State Department’s Rewards for Justice website. The FBI website on Sunday still featured a wanted poster for him.

Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said the US government had revoked the bounties placed on Haqqani, Abdul Aziz Haqqani, and Yahya Haqqani.

“These three individuals are two brothers and one paternal cousin,” Qani told The Associated Press.

The Haqqani network grew into one of the deadliest arms of the Taliban after the US-led 2001 invasion

of Afghanistan.

The group employed roadside bombs, suicide bombings and other attacks, including on the Indian and US embassies, the Afghan presidency, and other major targets. They also have been linked to extortion, kidnapping and other criminal activity.

A Taliban official said the release of US prisoner George Glezmann and the removal of bounties signalled progress in Afghanistan-US ties.

Another official called it a step towards normalisation, citing the Taliban’s control of Afghanistan’s embassy in Norway.

China has accepted a Taliban diplomat, while Qatar has engaged with them

as a mediator.

The Taliban’s policies, particularly restrictions on women, have deepened their global isolation.

Analyst Ibraheem Bahiss noted the bounty removals as a diplomatic win, with the Taliban prioritising sanctions relief over formal recognition. Meanwhile, leader Hibatullah Akhundzada faces potential ICC prosecution for crimes against women.