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Sirajuddin Haqqani
Sirajuddin Haqqani (Pashto: سراج الدين حقاني, romanized: Sirāj al-Dīn Ḥaqqānī, Pashto pronunciation: [si.rɑd͡ʒ.u.'din (h)a.'kɑ.ni], Dari pronunciation: [sɪ.rɑːd͡ʒ.ʊ(d̪).d̪íːn (h)ä(q).qɑ:.niː]; aliases Khalifa and Siraj Haqqani; born December 1979) is an Afghan leader who is the first deputy leader of Afghanistan and the acting interior minister in the post-2021 Taliban regime. He has been a deputy leader of the Taliban since 2015, and was additionally appointed to his ministerial role after the 2021 withdrawal of foreign troops. He has led the Haqqani network, a semi-autonomous paramilitary arm of the Taliban, since inheriting it from his father in 2018, and has primarily had military responsibilities within the Taliban.
As interior minister, he has control over much of the country's internal security forces. As deputy leader of the Taliban, he oversaw armed combat against American and coalition forces, reportedly from a base within North Waziristan District in Pakistan.[citation needed] Haqqani was formerly wanted by the FBI for questioning due to his role in the 2008 Kabul Serena Hotel attack that killed six people, including American citizen Thor David Hesla, as well as an attempted assassination of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, with the U.S. State Department designating him a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and offering a reward of $10 million for information about his location that will lead to his arrest. This was lifted in March 2025.
Sirajuddin Haqqani is the son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, a Pashtun mujahid and military leader of pro-Taliban forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Born in December 1979, Sirajuddin, who has brothers from both of his father's wives (Jalaluddin having also married an Arab woman whose children live with her in the United Arab Emirates) grew up in Pakistan. Like his other siblings, he was initially homeschooled by his father before enrolling at the Anjuman Uloom Al-Qur'an, a madrasa in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in 1984, at the age of 5.
He spent his childhood in Miramshah, North Waziristan, Pakistan, and later attended Darul Uloom Haqqania, an influential Deobandi Islamic seminary in Akora Khattak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, known to have produced many graduates who ultimately joined the Taliban. The name Haqqani itself was taken from the Darul Uloom Haqqania, attended by many leading figures of the Haqqani network.
His younger brother Mohammad Haqqani, also a member of the network, died in a drone attack on 18 February 2010, in Dande Darpakhel, a village in North Waziristan. Other brothers who died include Nasiruddin, Badruddin and Omar. Among the brothers alive, Abdulaziz Haqqani, is also highly influential in the Haqqani Network and currently functions as his deputy while Anas Haqqani has some political and militant influence as well.
Haqqani has admitted planning the 14 January 2008 attack against the Serena Hotel in Kabul which killed six people, including American citizen Thor David Hesla. Haqqani confessed his organization and direction of the planning of an attempt to assassinate Hamid Karzai, planned for April 2008. His forces have been accused by coalition forces of carrying out the late December 2008 bombing in Kabul at a barracks near an elementary school that killed several schoolchildren, an Afghan soldier, and an Afghan guard; no coalition personnel were affected.[citation needed]
In November 2008, The New York Times reporter David S. Rohde was kidnapped in Afghanistan. His initial captors are believed to have been solely interested in a ransom. Sirajuddin Haqqani is reported to have been Rohde's last captor prior to his escape.
Several reports indicated that Haqqani was targeted in a massive U.S. drone attack on 2 February 2010, but that he was not present in the area affected by the attack.
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Sirajuddin Haqqani
Sirajuddin Haqqani (Pashto: سراج الدين حقاني, romanized: Sirāj al-Dīn Ḥaqqānī, Pashto pronunciation: [si.rɑd͡ʒ.u.'din (h)a.'kɑ.ni], Dari pronunciation: [sɪ.rɑːd͡ʒ.ʊ(d̪).d̪íːn (h)ä(q).qɑ:.niː]; aliases Khalifa and Siraj Haqqani; born December 1979) is an Afghan leader who is the first deputy leader of Afghanistan and the acting interior minister in the post-2021 Taliban regime. He has been a deputy leader of the Taliban since 2015, and was additionally appointed to his ministerial role after the 2021 withdrawal of foreign troops. He has led the Haqqani network, a semi-autonomous paramilitary arm of the Taliban, since inheriting it from his father in 2018, and has primarily had military responsibilities within the Taliban.
As interior minister, he has control over much of the country's internal security forces. As deputy leader of the Taliban, he oversaw armed combat against American and coalition forces, reportedly from a base within North Waziristan District in Pakistan.[citation needed] Haqqani was formerly wanted by the FBI for questioning due to his role in the 2008 Kabul Serena Hotel attack that killed six people, including American citizen Thor David Hesla, as well as an attempted assassination of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, with the U.S. State Department designating him a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and offering a reward of $10 million for information about his location that will lead to his arrest. This was lifted in March 2025.
Sirajuddin Haqqani is the son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, a Pashtun mujahid and military leader of pro-Taliban forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Born in December 1979, Sirajuddin, who has brothers from both of his father's wives (Jalaluddin having also married an Arab woman whose children live with her in the United Arab Emirates) grew up in Pakistan. Like his other siblings, he was initially homeschooled by his father before enrolling at the Anjuman Uloom Al-Qur'an, a madrasa in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in 1984, at the age of 5.
He spent his childhood in Miramshah, North Waziristan, Pakistan, and later attended Darul Uloom Haqqania, an influential Deobandi Islamic seminary in Akora Khattak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, known to have produced many graduates who ultimately joined the Taliban. The name Haqqani itself was taken from the Darul Uloom Haqqania, attended by many leading figures of the Haqqani network.
His younger brother Mohammad Haqqani, also a member of the network, died in a drone attack on 18 February 2010, in Dande Darpakhel, a village in North Waziristan. Other brothers who died include Nasiruddin, Badruddin and Omar. Among the brothers alive, Abdulaziz Haqqani, is also highly influential in the Haqqani Network and currently functions as his deputy while Anas Haqqani has some political and militant influence as well.
Haqqani has admitted planning the 14 January 2008 attack against the Serena Hotel in Kabul which killed six people, including American citizen Thor David Hesla. Haqqani confessed his organization and direction of the planning of an attempt to assassinate Hamid Karzai, planned for April 2008. His forces have been accused by coalition forces of carrying out the late December 2008 bombing in Kabul at a barracks near an elementary school that killed several schoolchildren, an Afghan soldier, and an Afghan guard; no coalition personnel were affected.[citation needed]
In November 2008, The New York Times reporter David S. Rohde was kidnapped in Afghanistan. His initial captors are believed to have been solely interested in a ransom. Sirajuddin Haqqani is reported to have been Rohde's last captor prior to his escape.
Several reports indicated that Haqqani was targeted in a massive U.S. drone attack on 2 February 2010, but that he was not present in the area affected by the attack.