Anas Haqqani | |
|---|---|
| انس حقانی | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1994 (age 31–32) |
| 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 Afghan politician and military leader, who is a senior leader of theIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan and within theTaliban movement, and was also a member of the Taliban'snegotiation team inits political office in Doha, Qatar.
He is the son of fighter andwarlordJalaluddin Haqqani, who fought both theSoviets and theAmericans, and a brother ofSirajuddin Haqqani, now theMinister of Interior of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan .[1][2]
He has an interest inPashto poetry, himself being apoet.[3]
AmericancommentatorBill Roggio says he is a "keypropagandist,fundraiser andambassador for theHaqqanis", mainly in theArab world.[4]
Anas is a son ofJalaluddin Haqqani, aPashtunmujahid and military leader of pro-Taliban forces in bothAfghanistan andPakistan.
Through hisPashtun 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 beinghomeschooled by hisfather 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 defense of Anas, Afghan TalibanspokespersonSuhail Shaheen said he was a student and had nothing to do with the militancy.[7] He was released on 18 November 2019 in aprisoner 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 factionalized 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 hadtallied up Taliban members he killed inwar 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 theInternational Criminal Court will summon you or thehuman rights activists will condemn you, because they are deaf and blind for you."[11]