Although it is unclear when the Haqqani Network (HQN) was officially formed, its founder and its roots can be traced back to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Jalaluddin Haqqani, the founder of HQN, was a leader of one of the more radical mujahedeen factions during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Hizb-e Islami.[2] Jalaluddin joined with the Afghan Taliban as it grew in strength during the 1990s, although schisms between fighters loyal to Haqqani and the Taliban occasionally flared up.[3] Following the collapse of the Taliban government in 2001, the Haqqani family fled to Waziristan, effectively moving their command center to the tribal regions of Pakistan.[4] From this position, Haqqani extended the network’s reach further into Pakistan, which many locals seemed to embrace due to Jalaluddin’s history.[5]

By the middle of 2005 it is believed that Jalaluddin’s son, Sirajuddin Haqqani, took over most operations.[6] Since his move into power, Sirajuddin has orchestrated major attacks within Afghanistan to disrupt any U.S. interests.[7] The network’s most notable attack was a day-long siege in 2011 on the U.S. embassy and NATO headquarters in Kabul which killed more than 16 people.[8] HQN was weakened in 2012 with the death of Badruddin Haqqani, son of Jalaluddin and brother of Sirajuddin, who operated as the group’s operational commander.[9] The United States. continued to conduct drone strikes in Pakistan against Haqqani operatives with some success, killing the network’s second in command, Waliur Rahman, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in 2013.[10] On October 31, 2014, an American drone strike in South Waziristan killed Abdullah Haqqani along with six other militants.[11] View full narrative