The Taliban's interior minister and United Nations-designated terrorist Sirajuddin Haqqani showed his face to the media for the first time on Saturday, 5 March, IANS reported.
Haqqani, the son of an anti-Soviet warlord and founder of the terrorist group Haqqani Network, was seen attending a graduation ceremony for new Afghan police recruits in the country's capital, Kabul.
Addressing the ceremony, Haqqani said, "For your satisfaction and for building your trust... I am appearing in the media in a public meeting with you."
The United States (US) has put a bounty of $10 million on Haqqani's head for masterminding a number of terrorist attacks conducted by his group.
'World Faces No Threat from Afghanistan': Haqqani
Haqqani, also called Khalifa locally, said in his address that he fully supported the principles of the Doha agreement of 2020 between the US and the Taliban, which led to the withdrawal of thousands of US troops from the country in August 2021.
He also reassured global leaders that their countries did not face any threat from the Afghan government, reported IANS.
However, since the Taliban came to power in the war-torn country in August 2021, Haqqani has endorsed suicide missions and other deadly attacks against civilians and US troops.
Since he never allowed himself to be filmed before his picture was released on Saturday, even the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the US had only a blurry image of Haqqani as a bearded man.
He was one of the first and most important members of the Taliban to enter Kabul amid efforts to dislodge the Afghan government led by former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani.
As per an FBI report, Haqqani "is wanted for questioning in connection with the January 2008 attack on a hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed six people, including an American citizen. He is believed to have coordinated and participated in cross-border attacks against United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan. Haqqani also allegedly was involved in the planning of the assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai in 2008."
(With inputs from IANS.)
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