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US drops bounties on top Afghan Taliban officials / Photo: Ahmad SAHEL ARMAN - AFP
US drops bounties on top Afghan Taliban officials
The United States has removed multimillion-dollar bounties on leaders of Afghanistan's feared Haqqani militant network, including the current Taliban interior minister, the State Department and the Taliban government said.
The Haqqani network was responsible for some of the deadliest attacks during the decades-long war in Afghanistan.
The men remain on Washington's list of "specially designated global terrorists" but the bounty price has been scrapped.
Taliban interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told AFP that Washington had "cancelled rewards" for Sirajuddin Haqqani -- who also heads the Haqqani network -- as well as other key leaders, Abdul Aziz Haqqani and Yahya Haqqani.
Sirajuddin Haqqani had long been one of Washington's most important targets, with a $10 million bounty on his head.
The US State Department said that "the three persons named remain designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), and the Haqqani Network remains designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a SDGT".
But while the wanted page remains active, the bounty on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) website has been removed.
"It is the policy of the United States to consistently review and refine Rewards for Justice reward offers," a State Department spokesperson told AFP on Wednesday.
- 'Largely symbolic' -
The bounty cancellation came days after the first visit by US officials to Afghanistan since President Donald Trump returned to office, and the announcement afterwards of the release of a US citizen by Taliban authorities.
US-based Afghan political analyst Abdul Wahed Faqiri told AFP that the bounty removal is likely "largely symbolic" but a way for the United States to "give credit to Sirajuddin Haqqani", seen as an emerging more moderate "alternative".
Media reports talk of increasing tensions between the "pragmatic" Haqqani figures and a more hardline circle around Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, who vie for influence within the government.
Despite the US bounty and international travel bans, Sirajuddin Haqqani has travelled outside Afghanistan multiple times since the Taliban government swept back to power in 2021.
The government in Kabul is not recognised by any country and has expressed hopes for "a new chapter" with Trump's administration.
Trump signed a peace deal with the Taliban during his first term in office, that paved the way for the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and their return to power.
S.Belanger--SMC
