- United Arab Emirates leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan met Taliban government official Sirajuddin Haqqani, a Taliban official wanted by the United States and carrying a bounty of up to $10 million.
- The meeting underscores the growing international divisions over how to deal with the Taliban. Western countries do not recognise the Taliban as Afghanistan’s government, but countries in the Middle East and elsewhere have reached out to them.
- Concerns remain about human rights under Taliban rule, exacerbated by the recent public mass flogging of 63 men and women at a sports complex.
The UAE leader on Tuesday met a Taliban government official who is still wanted by the US for the killing of an American citizen and other attacks and carries a bounty of up to $10 million on his head.
The meeting highlighted growing international differences over how to deal with the Taliban, which has taken over swathes of the region. Control over Afghanistan In 2021 and since, girls have been barred from attending school beyond the sixth grade and the role of women in public life has been restricted. While Western countries still do not recognize the Taliban as the government in Kabul, nations in the Middle East and elsewhere are reaching out to them.
State news agency WAM reported that Abu Dhabi ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan met Sirajuddin Haqqani at the Qasr Al Shati palace in the emirate’s capital. It published a photo of Sheikh Mohammed shaking hands with Haqqani. Haqqani is the Taliban’s interior minister and also the head of the Haqqani Network, a powerful network within the group that is accused of some of the bloodiest attacks against Afghanistan’s former Western-backed government.
Taliban criticised for depriving women of human rights at UN meeting
“The two sides discussed ways to strengthen the bonds of cooperation between the two countries and enhance relations to serve mutual interests and contribute to regional stability,” WAM said. “The discussions focused on the economic and development sectors, as well as support for reconstruction and development in Afghanistan.”
The Taliban, for its part, said the two men were discussing “mutual interests” but did not elaborate. It said Taliban spy chief Abdul Haq Wasiq also attended the meeting. Wasiq was held for several years at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay and was released in 2014 in exchange for US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured after deserting from his post in 2009.
Haqqani is believed to be around 50 years old and remains on the US radar even after the Taliban came to power. A US drone strike in Kabul in 2022 killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who had called on Osama bin Laden to attack the US for several years after he took power. According to US officials, the house where al-Zawahiri was killed was Haqqani’s home.
Emirati leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler of Abu Dhabi, shakes hands with Taliban official Sirajuddin Haqqani at the Qasr Al Shati palace in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, June 4, 2024. (WAM via AP)
While the Taliban argued that the attack violated the terms of the 2020 Doha Agreement, which US withdrawal from AfghanistanThe agreement also included a promise by the Taliban that it would not harbor al-Qaeda members or others who might try to attack the United States.
The Haqqani network became one of the Taliban’s deadliest arms following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 after the September 11 attacks. The group has carried out roadside bombs, suicide bombings and other attacks, including against the Indian and US embassies, the Afghan presidential office and other key targets. They have also been linked to extortion, kidnappings and other criminal activities.
Haqqani himself admitted to planning the attack on Kabul’s Serena Hotel in January 2008, which killed six people, including American citizen Thor David Hesla.
The U.S. State Department did not respond to a request for comment on Haqqani’s trip. The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi is about 3 miles from the palace where the meeting took place. The U.S. has long been a security guarantor for the UAE, a federation of seven hereditarily ruled sheikhdoms that is also home to Dubai, and has thousands of troops stationed at Al Dhafra Air Base and elsewhere in the country.
Since the Taliban came to power, China has been the most prominent country to accept diplomats from the group. Other countries have accepted de facto representatives of the Taliban, such as Qatar, which has been a key mediator between the US and the group. US envoys have also met with the Taliban several times.
The UAE, which hosted the Taliban’s diplomatic mission during their first rule in Afghanistan, has been trying to strengthen ties with the group even as it sent troops to support the Western coalition that fought in the country for decades. Low-cost UAE-based carriers Air Arabia and flydubai have begun flying into Kabul International Airport again, while an Emirati company has won a security contract for airfields in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the international community, led by the United Nations, has attempted to provide aid to AfghanistanMillions of people are struggling for food, natural disasters are taking lives in rural areas and the country’s economy has declined drastically.
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Concerns about human rights This situation persists even under the Taliban rule.
UN human rights spokesman Jeremy Lawrence on Wednesday criticised the mass flogging of 63 men and women at a sports facility in the city of Sar-e-Pul for alleged offences including “running away from home” and “moral crimes”. Afghan media quoted a local government official and witnesses as confirming that the flogging took place on Tuesday.
“This punishment was allegedly carried out in front of members of the real authorities and hundreds of local residents,” Lawrence said. “We once again urge the real authorities to immediately stop all forms of corporal punishment.”
