Kabul, Dec 11 (Reuters-VOF) – The Afghan Taliban’s acting minister for refugees, Khalil Rahman Haqqani, has been killed in a blast in the country’s capital Kabul, his nephew Anas Haqqani said on Wednesday.
Khalil Haqqani became a minister in the Taliban’s interim government after foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021. He was a senior leader of the Haqqani network, a militant faction blamed for major attacks during the 20-year war, according to the U.S. State Department.
Haqqani was the brother of Jalaluddin Haqqani, the late founder of the notorious Haqqani network. The group was responsible for some of the most violent attacks during the Taliban’s two-decade insurgency in the wake of the U.S.-led 2001 invasion to topple the Taliban’s previous government.
He was also the uncle of Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is currently serving as Afghanistan’s interior minister.