http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/17/world/asia/haqqani-leaders-arrested-afghanistan-khost.html 2014-10-16 18:18:18 Two Haqqani Militant Leaders Arrested, Afghan Officials Say Anas Haqqani, a son of the group’s founder, and Hafiz Rashid, a senior commander who coordinated suicide attacks, were arrested in Khost Province, officials said. === KABUL, Afghanistan — The Afghan intelligence service said Thursday that it had arrested two senior leaders of the Anas Haqqani, a son of the group’s founder, Jalaluddin Haqqani, and Hafiz Rashid, a senior commander who coordinated suicide bombings, were arrested in an operation in Khost Province, along the border with Pakistan, on Tuesday night, the National Directorate of Security announced. The spy agency released mug shots of the two men and, in a statement, described their arrests as a major coup. The Haqqani Network is one of the The group’s success stems partly from its ability to straddle the border with Pakistan, where it operates with apparent impunity from the tribal district of North Waziristan — a source of much frustration among American and Afghan officials. Anas Haqqani is not a well-known commander of the group, which is run by his brother, Sirajuddin Haqqani. The intelligence agency provided little information about the operation that led to his capture, describing him as someone who had directed Haqqani Network propaganda efforts on social media, and who played a key role in strategic decision-making. Anas Haqqani, the agency said, had also raised money for the Haqqani Network in Gulf countries — a major source of revenue since the guerrilla war against Soviet-occupied Afghanistan in the 1980s, when the Haqqanis were a key ally of both the United States and Saudi Arabia. The agency described Hafiz Rashid, who was arrested alongside Mr. Haqqani, as a senior military commander who had equipped suicide bombers, chosen their targets and moved them from safe houses in Pakistan across the border into Afghanistan. Mr. Rashid also comes from a prominent jihadist family. His brother, Mohammad Nuri Omari, was one of five detainees who were transferred from the American prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to Qatar last June, as part of a deal to secure the release of the captured American soldier The agency claimed that Mr. Rashid had lived in Chakwal district of Pakistan — an agricultural area in Punjab Province that has traditionally been a major recruiting ground for the Pakistani armed forces. The arrests come as American combat forces and other Western troops are leaving Afghanistan, and the Afghans hailed them as a strategic victory against a major foe. Still, the Haqqanis have suffered major leadership losses in the past, only to continue operations. One of the network’s deputy leaders, Nasiruddin Haqqani, was shot dead on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, in November 2013. A year earlier, an An American congressional report last January estimated the Haqqani Network’s strength at about 3,000 fighters, which is slightly smaller than the estimated size of the Khost Protection Force, a C.I.A.-funded Afghan tribal militia that operates in the same area. In addition to sharing goals and resources with the Afghan Taliban, the Haqqani Network has maintained close ties to Its close ties to Pakistan’s main military spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, have been a source of frustration and occasional anger among American officials; in September 2011 the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff described the Other American officials have said that the relationship between the I.S.I. and the Haqqanis is less clear-cut than that, but still uncomfortably close. And there have consistently been reports that the Pakistani military offensive against the Taliban and other militants in the tribal area of North Waziristan have left the Haqqanis relatively unscathed. As American officials have reached out to the Taliban to engage them in negotiations with the Afghan government, they have also tried to draw the Haqqanis into talks. In 2011, an American official held an unofficial meeting with Ibrahim Haqqani, a senior family member, in a Gulf country. One American official with knowledge of the meeting, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said an I.S.I. representative had accompanied Mr. Haqqani to that meeting. But that effort at diplomacy later foundered alongside the collapse of a broader effort to draw the Taliban into talks. Now, Afghanistan’s new president, Ashraf Ghani, has promised to re-engage with the Taliban in a bid to end an insurgency that is placing the Afghan security services under increasing pressure, amid surging attacks across the country. During the presidential race, Mr. Ghani’s campaign claimed to have worked through tribal intermediaries to win promises from the Haqqanis that they would not disrupt the runoff election in June, according to a report released by the International Crisis Group on Thursday. Mr. Ghani’s handling of the arrests may offer a hint of his broader policy toward insurgents, said Graeme Smith, a Kabul-based analyst with the International Crisis Group. “Is this an opportunity to use this guy as a channel for negotiations?” he said. “Or is it a chance to punish someone who has been responsible for a great number of deaths?”