Afghan Taliban in a statement, announced the death of of Mawalawi Jalaluddin Haqqani, founder of Haqqani network. He had been ill and bed-ridden for a few years.
“It is with great regret that we inform our believing Mujahid Afghan nation and the vast Islamic Ummah that the prominent Jihadi figure, religious scholar, exemplary warrior and pioneer of celebrated Jihads; the Minister of Frontiers during the reign of Islamic Emirate and member of the Leadership Council, the esteemed Al-Haj Mawlawi Jalaluddin Haqqani has passed away after a long battle with illness,” according to the statement.
Reports of Haqqani’s death had earlier circulated in 2015. He voluntarily gave up the operational leadership of the group in 2001 to his son, Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is the current deputy leader of the Taliban.
Haqqani was born in 1939 in the village of Karezgay in the Zadran district of eastern Paktia Province. He studied at the Dar-al-‘Ulam Haqqaniya Deobandi seminary in 1964 and graduated with a doctorate which entitled him to the status of Mawlawi in Peshawar in 1970.
He was considered as a formidable military commander from 1979 to 1989 anti-Soviet jihad and had close links with Pakistani, US and Saudi intelligence agencies, making him one of the armed commanders in the anti-Soviet jihad. Haqqani had long-standing ties to Arab mujahideen volunteers and al Qaeda network owing to his fluency in the language.
He channeled Saudi funds for the anti-Soviet resistance and built the first Al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan. He switched his allegiance to the Taliban in 1995 just before they captured Kabul. He served in senior positions in the Taliban defence administration, particularly in the northern war against the Northern Alliance commander, Ahmed Shah Masood.
After the fall of Taliban in 2001, he moved to the tribal areas along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. In the current insurgency against NATO and Afghan government, the Haqqani network has been responsible for some of the deadliest attacks in Kabul.
Haqqani has seven sons who are, Sirajuddin Haqqani, Badruddin Haqqani, Nasiruddin Haqqani, Mohammed Haqqani, Omar Haqqani, Aziz Haqqani and Anas Haqqani.
