Afghan officials have claimed the U.S. has lifted a $10 million reward offer for information leading to the arrest of Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani and two others, though the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s website has yet to remove their names from its “most wanted” list.
The Afghan interior ministry has claimed the U.S. government revoked the bounties placed on Sirajuddin Haqqani, Abdul Aziz Haqqani, and Yahya Haqqani. Sirajuddin and Abdul are brothers, while Yahya is their paternal cousin. In a report, the Associated Press cited an Afghan official as claiming the development signified a normalization of ties.
However, the development has yet to be formally confirmed by the U.S. The FBI’s website still lists the reward on its website, saying Haqqani was “believed to have coordinated and participated in cross-border attacks against United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan.”
Prior to the interior ministry’s announcement, the Taliban had freed an American citizen detained in Afghanistan for over two years following direct talks between U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler and Taliban officials in Kabul.
Sirajuddin is the head of the Haqqani Network, designated a terror outfit by the United States for carrying out several major attacks on foreign and Afghan forces during the 20-year-long war in Afghanistan. He had earlier admitted to planning a January 2008 attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul, which killed six people, including U.S. citizen Thor David Hesla.