An explosion in Afghanistan’s capital on Wednesday killed a Taliban official who was a member of one of the country’s most powerful political families, government officials said.

The death of the minister, Khalil Haqqani, was the highest-profile killing in Afghanistan since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover of the country. It was a strike at the heart of the Taliban’s power structure after years of essentially unchallenged dominance.

Haqqani, the minister of refugees and repatriation, was a senior member of the Haqqani Network, an influential faction within the Taliban. The US and the UN have designated the Haqqani Network as a terrorist organisation.

The US Treasury had named Haqqani a “specially designated global terrorist,” and the US government had offered a reward of up to $5 million for information about him.

His nephew Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting interior minister, has led efforts to reshape the Taliban’s global image. Since the Taliban’s new rise to power, the Haqqanis have appeared eager to reach out to the West for recognition — to little effect so far.

And that effort has at times seemed at odds with the dictates of the Taliban’s supreme leader, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, who has returned Afghanistan to an
uncompromising marginalisation of women and education.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.

The government blamed an Islamic State affiliate known as ISIS-K, which has been one of the few remaining antagonists to the Taliban.

Haqqani was a crucial Taliban fundraiser, according to the US treasury.

He also led military operations and was an ally in al Qaida’s operations, according to a report by the UN Security Council.

As a special representative of the Taliban’s supreme leader, Haqqani played a public role in establishing the Taliban’s authority as they established their new government.

New York Times News Service