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 5, 1979) is an Afghan leader who is the first deputy leader of Afghanistan and the 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. 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.