Taliban say Haqqani on US terror list is violation of Doha pact

ISLAMABAD: The Taliban accused the United States on Thursday of violating the peace agreement inked between the two in February 2020 in Doha by keeping its new interior minister, Sirrajudin Haqqani, on its terror list.
The statement was issued by the new Afghan government hours before some 200 people, including Americans, left the war-battered country in the first international commercial flight to depart Kabul airport, for Qatar, since US forces left Afghanistan 10 days ago.
The Doha deal had paved the way for the exit of US-led foreign forces in return for a guarantee from the Taliban not to allow groups such as Al Qaeda and ISIL to operate on Afghan soil. In the wake of the deal, the US had pledged to remove Taliban members from international terror lists.
The new minister, who is part of the Haqqani Network formed by Jalaluddin Haqqani, his slain father, had been accused of attacks on US forces in Afghanistan during the past 20 years. He is on the FBI’s most wanted list and carries a $5 million bounty on his head. He is also on a UN blacklist along with over a dozen other Taliban cabinet members, including acting PM Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund.
"Pentagon officials have remarked that some cabinet members of the Islamic Emirate or family members of the late Haqqani Sahib are on US blacklists and still targets," read a statement issued by the Taliban foreign affairs ministry.
"The Islamic Emirate considers this a clear violation of the Doha Agreement, which is neither in the interest of the United States or Afghanistan," it stated, referring to the agreement signed in the Qatari capital.
According to the statement, the Haqqani family "is part of the Islamic Emirate and does not have a separate name or organisational setup".
"Similarly, in the Doha Agreement all officials of the Islamic Emirate, without any exception, were part of the interaction with the US and should have been removed from the UN and US blacklists, a demand which still remains valid," the statement said.
It termed statements by the US and other countries as provocative and accused them of trying to meddle in the internal affairs of Afghanistan. The statement added that Afghanistan "condemns" this in the "strongest terms".
"Such remarks by US officials are a repetition of past failed experiments and such positions are detrimental for America," the statement said. "We urge that these incorrect policies be immediately reversed through diplomatic interactions," it said.
For the past few years , Kabul airport had been known as Hamid Karzai International Airport. The Taliban have now renamed it Kabul International Airport.
On Thursday morning, a Qatar Airways plane had arrived in Kabul carrying aid. In the evening, it departed for Doha with passengers, including a large group of foreigners, on board. During a recent visit to Doha, US secretary of state Antony Blinken had urged the Qatari authorities to help them with evacuations.
Hundreds of Afghan citizens who had helped the US military were unable to get out in last month’s US airlift. More than 124,000 foreigners and Afghans fearful of Taliban rule have flown out of the country so far.
In a press conference at the airport, Qatari special envoy Mutlaq bin Majed Al Qahtani described Kabul international airport as operational. "This is a historic day in the history of Afghanistan as Kabul airport is fully operational. We have been faced by huge challenges … but we can now say that the airport is fit for navigation," he said.
Qatari and Turkish technical teams have helped restore operations at the airport, which was damaged during the chaotic evacuations of tens of thousands of people to meet the US troop withdrawal deadline of August 31. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid thanked Qatar for its assistance in making the airport operational and for humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

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