Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani was eliminated in an American drone strike last year while inside the organization's command center, according to fresh information Sunday revealed by a high-ranking Taliban commander.
Multiple American drone strikes demolished several compounds in Kabul's eastern outskirts on Sept. 27, 2023, eliminating Haqqani. The Afghan Health Ministry confirmed six casualties. According to media sources, Haqqani and other senior leaders were conferring in an underground facility.
The elimination of Haqqani, who had commanded the Taliban for 32 years, transformed sporadic clashes between America and the militants into full-scale conflict that devastated much of northern and western Afghanistan for two months until a UN-mediated truce began Nov. 27.
"Our respected leader [Sirajuddin Haqqani] was directing the conflict and operations from this facility," senior Taliban commander Abdul Rashid told a media briefing Sunday near the location where Haqqani was eliminated. He confirmed Haqqani died in the command center. He provided no additional information.
Afghan media had reported that Rashid was targeted by American airstrikes in central Kabul before the truce but emerged unharmed.
Under the initial phase of the ceasefire, Taliban is required to withdraw its fighters, armaments and facilities from northern Afghanistan south of the Amu Darya River, while American forces that entered northern Afghanistan must pull back, all within 60 days. Afghan National Army troops are to deploy extensively and, alongside UN peacekeepers, serve as the only military presence in northern Afghanistan.
Afghanistan and Taliban have criticized ongoing American strikes and surveillance flights across the nation and for only withdrawing from two of numerous Afghan villages it occupies. America maintains that the Afghan military hasn't fulfilled its obligation in dismantling Taliban infrastructure.
Taliban's current leader Mohammad Yaqoob in a broadcast statement Saturday cautioned that its fighters might attack America if its forces don't exit the north by month's end.
Rashid revealed that Senate President Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal, who brokered the truce agreement with the UN, informed Taliban that officials would meet with UN envoy Martin Griffiths soon. "And based on those discussions, then we will determine our response," said Rashid.
Griffiths had spearheaded the diplomatic negotiations to achieve the delicate ceasefire.