The Taliban’s minister of refugees, Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani, was killed along with four others in a suicide attack in Kabul on Wednesday.
The deceased minister was a senior leader within the Haqqani Network, the Taliban’s closest ally which has jointly controlled power in Afghanistan since 2021.
Haqqani’s killing was claimed by the ISIL (ISIS)-affiliate in the Khorasan Province, ISKP, and marks the most significant assassination of a leader in Afghanistan’s Taliban-led administration since the ouster of the United States-backed government of former President Ashraf Ghani three years ago, say analysts.
The bombing, they say, has raised questions about internal tensions within the Taliban and its allies, the influence of the ISKP in the country and security in Afghanistan more broadly.
Who was Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani?
Haqqani was the uncle of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s interior minister and the senior-most leader of the Haqqani Network.
Before being appointed as the minister for refugees, Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani was first charged with the security of Kabul city immediately after the Taliban seized control of the country. He was previously the Haqqani Network’s operational commander aiding al-Qaeda’s military in Afghanistan, and was crucial to his network’s fundraising efforts.
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