Editing Sirajuddin Haqqani

{{Villain_Infobox 
|Image =Sirajuddin_Haqqani.jpg
|fullname = Sirajuddin Haqqani
|alias = Khalifa<br>Siraj Haqqani
|origin =Afghanistan or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
|occupation = Interior Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (2021 - present)<br>Leader of the [[Haqqani Network]] (2018 - present)
|type of villain = Terrorist Leader
|goals = 
|crimes = [[Terrorism]]<br>Mass [[murder]]<br>[[War crimes]]<br>[[Kidnapping]]<br>[[Arson]]<br>Destruction of property<br>[[Crimes against humanity]]<br>[[Torture]]
|hobby = 
}}'''Sirajuddin Haqqani''' (born December 1979) is an Afghan [[Militant Islam]]ist who has been serving as the first deputy leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan ([[Taliban]]) since 2016. Since the 2021 fall of Kabul, this position has made him the ''de facto'' first deputy head of state of Afghanistan. The leader of the [[Haqqani Network]], a semi-autonomous paramilitary arm of the Taliban, he has primarily been active in military affairs.
==Biography==
===Early life===
Sirajuddin Haqqani is the son of [[Jalaluddin Haqqani]], a Pashtun mujahid and military leader of pro-Taliban forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Born in December 1979, Sirajuddin, who has brothers from both of his father's wives, Jalaluddin having also married an Arab woman whose children live with her in the United Arab Emirates, grew up in Pakistan. Like his other siblings, he was initially homeschooled by his father before enrolling at the Anjuman Uloom Al-Qur’an, a madrasa in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in 1984, at the age of 5.

He spent his childhood in Miramshah, North Waziristan, Pakistan, and later attended Darul Uloom Haqqania, an influential Deobandi Islamic seminary in Akora Khattak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, known to produce many graduates who ultimately join the Taliban.

His younger brother [[Mohammad Haqqani]], also a member of the network, died in a drone attack on February 18, 2010, in Dande Darpakhel, a village in North Waziristan.
===Militant activities===
Haqqani has admitted planning the January 14, 2008 attack against the Serena Hotel in Kabul that killed six people, including American citizen Thor David Hesla.
 
Haqqani confessed his organization and direction of the planning of an attempt to assassinate Hamid Karzai, planned for April 2008. His forces have been accused by coalition forces of carrying out the late December 2008 bombing in Kabul at a barracks near an elementary school that killed several schoolchildren, an Afghan soldier, and an Afghan guard; no coalition personnel were affected.

In November 2008, New York Times reporter David S. Rohde was kidnapped in Afghanistan. His initial captors are believed to have been solely interested in a ransom. Sirajuddin Haqqani is reported to have been Rohde's last captor prior to his escape.

Several reports indicated that Haqqani was targeted in a massive U.S. drone attack on February 2, 2010, but that he was not present in the area affected by the attack.

In March 2010, Haqqani was described as one of the leaders on the "Taliban's Quetta Shura". Sirajuddin Haqqani's deputy, [[Sangeen Zadran]], was killed by a US drone strike on 5 September 2013.

Haqqani was appointed the second deputy leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan by Leader [[Akhtar Mansour]] upon the latter's election on 29 July 2015. He was elevated to the position of first deputy leader when [[Hibatullah Akhundzada]], who was the first deputy under Mansour, assumed the leadership on 25 May 2016.

Jalaluddin Haqqani died in 2018 after a long illness and Sirajuddin became the leader of the Haqqani network, though Jalaluddin may have turned over operational control as early as 2008.

On May 31, 2020, British Taliban expert Antonio Guistozzi told Foreign Policy that Sirajuddin Haqqani was infected with COVID-19, which resulted in him being absent from the group's leadership mix.
===Taliban rule===
When the Taliban retook control of the country in August 2021, the leader of the Islamic Emirate became Afghanistan's ''de facto'' ruler and head of state, and the deputy leader became the country's second-most-powerful position. Haqqani was appointed the acting interior minister of Afghanistan in the Caretaker Cabinet of the Islamic Emirate on 7 September.

Haqqani gave his first ever on-camera interview in May 2022, with Christiane Amanpour in Kabul. Following the interview, he was described by Amanpour as the "heir" to Akhundzada in his capacity as deputy leader and "the most powerful member, frankly, of the current government, and indeed in the Taliban movement" due to Akhundzada's isolation in Kandahar.

In the interview, Haqqani acknoweldged concern by the international community over the treatment of women by the Taliban, and claimed women's rights would be respected, despite recent crackdowns, including an abrupt closure of secondary schools for girls and a decree requiring women to wear full-body coverings when in public. He claimed the schools would reopen once dress code issues were resolved, and said the veil decree was only advisory, despite evidence to the contrary. Haqqani also said the Taliban wants good relations with the United States and the international community, and no longer sees the U.S. as an enemy. As Grid has reported, the Taliban has made almost no movement toward making good on that pledge.

[[Category:Modern Villains]]
[[Category:Living Villains]]
[[Category:Terrorists]]
[[Category:Leader]]
[[Category:Warlords]]
[[Category:Military]]
[[Category:Islam]]
[[Category:Middle Eastern Villains]]
[[Category:Afghanistan]]
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[[Category:Kidnapper]]
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[[Category:Destroyer of Innocence]]
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