The State Department is defending its decision to end its bounties against Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani and other Haqqani Network commanders amidst indications that the United States may be adjusting its stance toward the terrorist group ruling Afghanistan.
The State Department’s Reward for Justice website had previously said that the U.S. “is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information” on Sirajuddin, a top leader in the Taliban government and a close ally of al-Qaeda. The bounty on Sirajuddin, now the head of the Taliban’s interior ministry, was first announced in 2009, and it was still in force until sometime in March.
But the bounty was dropped shortly after the Taliban agreed to free George Glezmann — an American citizen held hostage since 2022. No mention of any linkage to U.S. military or foreign policy was made.
The Taliban conducted a lightning-fast takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 and swept into the Afghan capital of Kabul on August 15. The chaotic and deadly non-combatant evacuation operation by the U.S. was conducted through Hamid Karzai International Airport while the U.S. military relied upon a hostile Taliban — including the Haqqani Network — to provide security outside the airport.
According to one tally conducted by the Associated Press, the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and al-Qaeda fighters are responsible for the deaths of most of the more than 2,400 U.S. troops and the more than 1,100 NATO and other U.S. allied troops who were killed during the war.
“It is the policy of the United States to consistently review and refine Rewards for Justice reward offers,” a spokesperson for the State Department told Just the News. “While there is no current reward offer for information on these individuals, 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.”