Anas Haqqani | |
|---|---|
| انس حقانی | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1994 (age 30–31) |
| Political party | Taliban |
| Relations | Khalil Haqqani (uncle) Sirajuddin Haqqani (brother) Abdulaziz Haqqani (brother) |
| Parent |
|
| Alma mater | Darul Uloom Haqqania,Pakistan |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan |
| Branch/service | Haqqani network |
Anas Haqqani (Pashto:انس حقانی[aˈnashaqɑˈni]; bornc. 1994) is a leader of theIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan, theTaliban movement and was also a member of the Taliban's negotiation team inits political office in Doha, Qatar.
He is the son of fighter warlordJalaluddin Haqqani, who fought both the Soviets and the Americans, and a brother ofSirajuddin Haqqani, now the Minister of Interior of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan .[1][2]
He has an interest inPashto poetry, himself being a poet.[3]
American commentatorBill Roggio says he is a "key propagandist, fundraiser and ambassador for the Haqqanis", mainly in the Arab world.[4]
Anas is a son ofJalaluddin Haqqani, aPashtunmujahid and military leader of pro-Taliban forces in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Through his Pashtun mother, his only surviving brothers areSirajuddin Haqqani andAbdulaziz Haqqani, while his father’s second wife is anArab from theUAE whose children live with her in her home country.[5]
Anas studied in a local school inNorth Waziristan, Pakistan, until the 10th grade, while also being homeschooled by his father inIslamic studies.[3]
He later did some short-term courses inEnglish,Economics,Politics andComputer Science but had to stop his higher education when he was captured by the Americans.[6]
Anas was detained inBahrain on 12 November 2014,[3] at the age of 20, when he was legally returning from visiting releasees fromGuantanamo Bay detention camp at the Taliban'spolitical office inDoha, Qatar. American soldiers arrested him and took him back to Qatar.[7][3]
After a day of interrogation, Anas was transferred toKabul, the capital ofAfghanistan and held for nine months at the headquarters of the government intelligence agency, theNational Directorate of Security. He was then imprisoned atBagram prison. Anas said that he was detained to try to get the Taliban to hold peace talks with the Afghan government, when the Taliban wanted to negotiate with the US instead. He was twice sentenced to death while in prison.[3]
In defence of Anas, Afghan Taliban spokespersonSuhail Shaheen said he was a student and had nothing to do with the militancy.[7] He was released on 18 November 2019 in a prisoner exchange.[3]
Haqqani went to Kabul after itfell to the Taliban in August 2021, as did his uncleKhalil Haqqani. Anas said that representatives of the Haqqani family needed to be there to negate talk that the Taliban was disunited and factionalised and that theHaqqani network was not truly part of it.[3]
In August 2021, Anas Haqqani andAhmadullah Wasiq visited theAfghanistan Cricket Board. They met with cricket board officials and national players and assured them of all possible cooperation for the promotion of cricket.[8][9]
In September 2021, Haqqani received criticism fromHindus onTwitter for callingMahmud of Ghazni a "renowned Muslim warrior & Mujahid of the 10th century" who "established astrong Muslim rule in the region fromGhazni & smashed the idol ofSomnath".[10]
UponPrince Harry’s announcement that he had tallied up Taliban members he killed in war and not thought of them as people, Haqqani tweeted: "Mr Harry! The ones you killed were not chess pieces, they were humans; they had families who were waiting for their return... I don't expect that the (International Criminal Court) will summon you or the human rights activists will condemn you, because they are deaf and blind for you."[11]