Taliban minister’s killing renews concerns over Daesh threat in Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s minister for refugees Khalil Haqqani (C) looks on as he arrives to inspect a refugee camp near the Afghanistan-Pakistan Torkham border in Nangarhar province on November 2, 2023. (AFP/File)

• Khalil Haqqani was killed by a suicide bomber inside his ministry’s compound
• He is the most high-profile Taliban casualty since the group’s return to power

KABUL: The killing of Afghanistan’s Refugee Minister Khalil Haqqani, has raised new concerns about a Daesh threat in the country, analysts said on Thursday, as the group claimed responsibility for the suicide blast that killed the Taliban official in Kabul.
Khalil Haqqani was a senior leader of a powerful faction within the Taliban called the Haqqani network. He became a minister when the Taliban returned to power after US-led forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021.
Haqqani was the brother of the famous guerrilla leader and the Haqqani network’s founder Jalaluddin Haqqani, who fought Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s. His nephew, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is the current interior minister.
Daesh-run media said on Wednesday evening that the explosion that killed the minister hours earlier at the Ministry of Refugees compound in central Kabul was carried out by its suicide attacker.
The Taliban later confirmed in a statement that Daesh was behind the attack, which killed and injured several others.
“(Haqqani) was a major figure whose politico-military career spanned decades and whose network and contracts transcended not just political divides across the Afghan spectrum but also extended deep into the tribal areas of Pakistan,” Ahmad Waleed Kakar, analyst and founder of The Afghan Eye media platform, told Arab News.
Coming from a tribe inhabiting the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Haqqani’s family has been influential in resolving tribal conflicts and addressing issues at the community level.
After the 2001 US invasion ousted the Taliban from their first stint in power, the faction was responsible for many attacks during the movement’s 20-year insurgency against foreign troops and influence in the country.
In 2011, the US classified Haqqani as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, offering a $5 million bounty on his head.
“His killing will be a huge political blow to the Taliban given his history of pragmatic mediation in the movement,” Kakar said.
“Whilst Daesh have been unable to meaningfully consolidate their control over specific geography in Afghanistan or pose a military threat to the Taliban, their limited presence means they remain able to exploit faults in Taliban security and target key figures.”
A regional affiliate of Daesh, known as Islamic State Khorasan Province, has been a rival group to the Taliban since it emerged in Afghanistan a decade ago.
Following the Taliban takeover of the country in 2021, ISKP has continued its campaign against the new Taliban regime. While deadly blasts have become rare since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, last year ISKP claimed the explosion that killed the Taliban governor of northern Balkh province. A few months later, the group assassinated the acting governor of Badakhshan in Afghanistan’s northeast.
Haqqani is the most high-profile casualty of an attack in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power.
“The killing of Khalil Rahman Haqqani is a deeply tragic incident, not only for the Taliban but also for Afghans and the international community. Mr. Haqqani was widely regarded as a pragmatic and moderate leader within the Taliban. Following the collapse of the republic, he was seen in Kabul, personally assuring former leaders of the republic about their safety,” Tameem Bahiss, a Kabul-based security analyst, told Arab News.
“While the Taliban have made significant strides in weakening ISKP’s presence in Afghanistan, this attack on Mr. Haqqani will undoubtedly heighten concerns among the Taliban leadership, leaving them more alarmed and cautious.”