Posted on 02/21/2004 6:26:15 AM PST by Rams82
INZARKAI, Afghanistan : In the provinces of southeastern Afghanistan his name is already that of a legend -- but Jalaluddine Haqqani is not just an anti-Soviet mujahedin hero, he is also playing a key role in the Taliban.
His status was confirmed by his re-appointment as the man in charge of military operations for the ousted fundamentalist militia at a "shura rahbari", or supreme council, in March 2003 presided over by Mullah Omar, the one-eyed fugitive leader of the Taliban.
Little-known in the West, Haqqani has become the right-hand man to Mullah Omar in his drive to launch a "jihad" or holy war against troops of the US-led coalition in Afghanistan and the administration of President Hamid Karzai.
Haqqani is "the No. 2 of Mullah Omar", according to a man claiming to be a spokesman for the ousted regime during an interview with AFP in southeastern Khost city on Wednesday.
The chief military strategist of the Taliban movement, "Sahib (sir) Haqqani personally directs all operations in the provinces of Paktia, Paktika and Khost," all in the southeast, said the spokesman, who calls himself Mohammad Saiful Adel.
The Taliban emerged in the southern city of Kandahar and retain a strong following in these parts. Adel also said that remnants of the ousted force were preparing to launch a major attack in the area this spring.
Haqqani is one of the most famous of Afghanistan's mujahedin or Islamic holy warriors who fought against the Soviet invasion, launched in December 1979.
Many Afghans know him as the military commander who seized the town of Khost in April 1991, ending a two-year siege and marking the first major mujahedin victory since the Soviet retreat in 1989.
He earned during this time the surname "Kabari" meaning "junk dealer" after he sold the shells of tanks destroyed on the battle field for scrap metal in Pakistan.
Thirteen years have not diminished his standing in regions bordering the Pakistani tribal zone, AFP learned in Inzarkai 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Khost and in mountainous Zhawa.
Haqqani was named in 1989 as head of a commission charged with forming an interim Afghan government but the country became engulfed in a civil war from 1992, in which he took no part, until the Taliban emerged in 1996.
Close to Mullah Omar in his ultra-conservative Islamic views, Haqqani was named as minister for tribal affairs by the Taliban administration in 1996.
Never far from the battlefield, Haqqani led a devastating offensive against the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance on the Shomali Plains north of Kabul in 1996 which critics have termed an exercise in ethnic cleansing against the Tajik population.
Hunted by the Americans, Haqqani has had a number of lucky escapes and has been injured in US bombings.
Often presented as one of the "moderate" figures of the Taliban movement, and capable of forcing the defection of a large number of Pashtun tribes from Greater Paktia (Paktia, Paktika and Khost) to his leadership, Haqqani has remained faithful to Mullah Omar.
Reputed to be close to the monarchies of the Gulf as well as the Pakistani secret services, Haqqani has long benefited from the support of generous sponsors both during and after the jihad -- money he has used to build madrassas, or religious schools, and mosques.
Khost officials say he divides his time between Khost, Paktia, Paktika and Miran Shah in neighbouring Pakistan.
- AFP
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