Taliban Confirms Death Of Haqqani Network Founder For The First Time

Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: This week, Army General Scott Miller became the ninth U.S. general in 17 years of war to assume command of NATO forces in Afghanistan. One of his challenges will be the group known as the Haqqani network, which the U.S. once praised as freedom fighters and now calls a terrorist group. Yesterday, the Taliban announced that the founder of the Haqqani network has died. NPR's Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman is with us now to talk about this. Hi, Tom. TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE: Hello, Ari. SHAPIRO: The founder of the group is not the current leader, but tell us about who he was and what his significance is. BOWMAN: His name is Jalaluddin Haqqani, and think of him, Ari, as Don Corleone. SHAPIRO: (Laughter). BOWMAN: He was head of this family. He had seven sons, and he was into trucking. He was into extortion, kidnapping, making some money. He grew up in eastern Afghanistan, and he was a mentor to Osama bin Laden and helped bin Laden set up