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Siraj Haqqani denies killing Burhanuddin Rabbani
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226157567873
SIRAJ Haqqani, a key leader of the Haqqani terror network, has denied responsibility for the assassination of Afghan peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani, in a rare interview in which he also revealed the group had held talks with US intelligence agents.
But the son of veteran Afghan warlord and Haqqani network founder Jalaluddin Haqqani told the BBC the "Islamic Emirate" - the name used by the Afghan Taliban during its time in power - was behind last month's attack on the US embassy and NATO headquarters in Kabul.
The BBC's Pashto-language service conducted the interview through an intermediary, who returned with recorded responses that the BBC said it believed were genuine.
Rabbani, a former Afghan president and chairman of the country's High Peace Council charged with forging a reconciliation with the Taliban, was killed at his Kabul home on September 20 by a militant posing as a Taliban peace envoy.
"We have not killed Burhanuddin Rabbani - and this has been said many times by the spokespersons of the Islamic Emirate," Mr Haqqani said in the interview. The Taliban has publicly refused to comment about whether it was behind his killing.
Mr Haqqani denied any links with Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency and pledged loyalty to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. "He is our leader and we totally obeyed him," he said.
The statements by both the Haqqanis and Afghan Taliban groups suggest that the US and NATO efforts to drive a wedge between them is unsettling the insurgency.
Anti-Pakistan sentiment in Afghanistan is high after the recent rocket attacks on border towns, and accusing the Haqqani network of being an arm of the ISI - as the US did last month and the Afghan government reiterated over the weekend - is destined to damage the groups' credibility there.
Mr Haqqani said his militant network was being contacted by intelligence agencies "of many Islamic and non-Islamic countries, including the US, asking us to leave the sacred jihad and take an important part in the current government".
But he added: "We know that their aim is not peace. They want to create tension among the emirate's mujaheddin."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226157567873
SIRAJ Haqqani, a key leader of the Haqqani terror network, has denied responsibility for the assassination of Afghan peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani, in a rare interview in which he also revealed the group had held talks with US intelligence agents.
But the son of veteran Afghan warlord and Haqqani network founder Jalaluddin Haqqani told the BBC the "Islamic Emirate" - the name used by the Afghan Taliban during its time in power - was behind last month's attack on the US embassy and NATO headquarters in Kabul.
The BBC's Pashto-language service conducted the interview through an intermediary, who returned with recorded responses that the BBC said it believed were genuine.
Rabbani, a former Afghan president and chairman of the country's High Peace Council charged with forging a reconciliation with the Taliban, was killed at his Kabul home on September 20 by a militant posing as a Taliban peace envoy.
"We have not killed Burhanuddin Rabbani - and this has been said many times by the spokespersons of the Islamic Emirate," Mr Haqqani said in the interview. The Taliban has publicly refused to comment about whether it was behind his killing.
Mr Haqqani denied any links with Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency and pledged loyalty to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. "He is our leader and we totally obeyed him," he said.
The statements by both the Haqqanis and Afghan Taliban groups suggest that the US and NATO efforts to drive a wedge between them is unsettling the insurgency.
Anti-Pakistan sentiment in Afghanistan is high after the recent rocket attacks on border towns, and accusing the Haqqani network of being an arm of the ISI - as the US did last month and the Afghan government reiterated over the weekend - is destined to damage the groups' credibility there.
Mr Haqqani said his militant network was being contacted by intelligence agencies "of many Islamic and non-Islamic countries, including the US, asking us to leave the sacred jihad and take an important part in the current government".
But he added: "We know that their aim is not peace. They want to create tension among the emirate's mujaheddin."
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