Emirati leader meets with Taliban official facing $10 million bounty for attacks

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The leader of the United Arab Emirates has met with a Taliban government official who is still wanted by the United States with a bounty of up to $10 million for his involvement in an attack that killed a U.S. citizen and other attacks.

Tuesday’s meeting highlights the growing international divide in dealing with the Taliban, which took control of Afghanistan in 2021 and since then Girls are not allowed to attend school beyond the sixth grade and the role of women in public life has been restricted in other ways. While the West still does not recognize the Taliban as the government of Kabul, countries in the Middle East and elsewhere have made contact with them.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi, met with Sirajuddin Haqqani at the Qasr Al Shati Palace in the Emirati capital, state news agency WAM reported, publishing a picture of Sheikh Mohammed Haqqani shaking hands. Haqqani is the Taliban’s interior minister who also heads the Haqqani Network, a powerful network within the group blamed for some of the bloodiest attacks on Afghanistan’s former Western-backed government.

“Both sides discussed strengthening cooperation ties between the two countries and ways to deepen relations to serve mutual interests and contribute to regional stability,” WAM said. “The discussions focused on economic and development areas, as well as supporting reconstruction and development in Afghanistan.”

The Taliban, for their part, described the two men as having discussions about “common interests,” without elaborating. They added that the Taliban’s intelligence chief, Abdul Haq Wasiq, also attended the meeting. Wasiq was imprisoned for years in the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay and was released in 2014 as part of a prisoner exchange that also included Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl of the US Armywho was captured in 2009 after leaving his post.

Haqqani, who is believed to be in his 50s, remains on the US radar even after the Taliban takeover. In 2022, a US drone attack in Kabul kills al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiriwho had been calling for an attack on the United States for years since succeeding Osama bin Laden. The house where al-Zawahiri was killed was Haqqani’s home, according to US officials.

While the Taliban argued that the attack violated the terms of the 2020 Doha agreement that initiated the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the agreement also included a Taliban pledge not to harbor al-Qaeda members or anyone else seeking to attack America.

The Haqqani network emerged as one of the Taliban’s deadliest arms following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 following the September 11 attacks. The group has carried out roadside bombs, suicide bombings and other attacks, including on the Indian and US embassies, the Afghan presidency and other key targets. They have also been linked to extortion, kidnapping and other criminal activities.

Haqqani himself explicitly admitted to planning an attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul in January 2008, in which six people were killed, including US citizen Thor David Hesla.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller declined to comment on the details of the visit, saying only that United Nations members must obtain approval before allowing sanctioned individuals to enter their country.

In a later response to questions from the Associated Press, the State Department said the United Arab Emirates was “an important partner in supporting the Afghan people, including the rights of Afghan women and girls, and Afghans who have fled their country in search of resettlement.”

“We understand the complex relationships of countries with the Taliban, especially in the region,” the statement said. “We remain in active contact with all our partners to achieve a constructive approach to dealing with the Taliban.”

The US has long been a security guarantor for the UAEa union of seven hereditary sheikhdoms, which includes Dubai, and has thousands of soldiers deployed at Al Dhafra air base and other locations across the country.

Since the Taliban came to power China is the most prominent country to host a diplomat from the groupOther countries have effectively accepted Taliban representatives, such as Qatar, which has been a key mediator between the United States and the group. American envoys have also met with the Taliban on several occasions.

The United Arab Emirates, which hosted a Taliban diplomatic mission during the Taliban’s first rule in Afghanistan, is trying to cement ties with the group even as it sent troops to support the Western coalition that fought in the country for decades. UAE-based budget airlines Air Arabia And FlyDubai flies to Kabul International Airport againwhile An Emirati company won an airport security contract in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the international community, led by the United Nations, is trying to help Afghanistan. Millions of people are struggling to find enough to eat, natural disasters are killing people in rural areas, and the country’s economy has shrunk dramatically.

Concerns also remain regarding human rights under Taliban rule.

United Nations human rights spokesman Jeremy Laurence on Wednesday criticized the mass flogging of 63 men and women at a sports complex in the city of Sar-e-Pul. The defendants are accused of “running away from home” and “moral crimes,” among other things. Afghan media quoted a local government official and witnesses as confirming that the floggings took place on Tuesday.

“The punishment was reportedly carried out in front of members of the de facto authorities and hundreds of local residents,” Laurence said. “We again call on the de facto authorities to immediately stop all forms of corporal punishment.”