In a sharp departure from nearly two decades of suppression of internal videos of Taliban leadership, the group has now begun publishing historical footage of its war with the United States. This morning, pro-Taliban telegram accounts began circulating this video which shows Sirajuddin & Badruddin Haqqani, Qari Zakir, Mullah Sangeen Zadran, and Ghani Muhammad sending off a team of suicide bombers that would be killed by Americans and Afghan National Army troops at Forward Operating Base Fenty on Nov. 12, 2010 before they could conduct their attack.
The video shows the group praying together before they are sent off by the Taliban leaders in an embrace.
The Haqqani Network, which is on the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list carried out attacks and financed the Taliban’s war against coalition forces since the 2001 invasion. It was led by Sirajuddin and Badruddin. Badruddin, Sangeen, and Zakir have since been killed in U.S. counterterrorism operations. However, Sirajuddin, through intense efforts to hide his location, survived the war and has been appointed as the Interior Minister of the Taliban’s ruling government since the August 2021 withdrawal, which will mark its one year anniversary this week.
This brazen release of footage illuminates how the Taliban have settled into their roles as political leaders in their new government, courted by international diplomats from China and other nations looking to cash in on the immense natural resources, especially in the Northeast of the country. It will be interesting to see what other footage will be released by the Taliban in the coming weeks.
