Sirajuddin Haqqani (born 1979) was the leader of the Haqqani Network from 2018, succeeding Jalaluddin Haqqani, and the deputy leader of the Taliban under Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Biography[]
FBI photo of Haqqani
Haqqani was born in Paktia Province, Afghanistan in 1973, the son of the famous Mujahideen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani. He aided his father against the Northern Alliance during the 1990s and became a high-ranking leader in the Haqqani Network, gaining a base-of-operations in North Waziristan, Pakistan and providing shelter to Al-Qaeda members during the War in North-West Pakistan. He also led cross-border attacks from Pakistan into Afghanistan amid the Afghanistan War. Sirajuddin Haqqani was believed to have been the mastermind of the 2008 bombing of a hotel in the Afghan capital of Kabul, and was also suspected of being the perpetrator of an attempted assassination of President Hamid Karzai. During the late 2010s and early 2020s, he was believed to have hidden out in the Miram Shah (Miranshah) region of North Waziristan in the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas of Pakistan, and, in May 2020, he survived COVID-19.