In the 20-minute telephone interview with AfPax Insider Monday, April 6, Haqqani also admitted to his complicity in the 2008 attack on Kabul's Serena Hotel and the 2008 attempt to assassinate President Karzai.
Haqqani urged individual Muslims in the Arabian Gulf to boost their funding of the Afghan insurgency to help fight the heightened U.S.-led effort to turn the tide against the Taliban.
AfPax Insider is a soon-to-launch information service focused on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Here is a transcript of the full interview:
Q: Briefly introduce yourself and how old you are right now?(endall)A: I am the son of Jalaluddin Haqqani and was born in 1979. So I am 30 years old now.
Q: What’s your education level, both religious and modern education?
A: I have completed neither the religious education nor the modern one. I have studied upto 7 or 8 grade in school. Also I have only studied some basic levels of religious education.
Q: Can you speak Arabic?
A: I can talk a little bit in Arabic.
Q: As you may have heard that new additional foreign troops are coming to Afghanistan. So what’s your opinion and preparations for that?
A: it’s now clear to the whole world that there’s no difference between the old and new administrations of America. Both the administrations are two ears of the same donkey. Despite the fact that there were so many hue and cries that there will be a change in policy but Obama has adopted the same policies of Bush. Rather the new administration has expedited the process more by sending more troops to the region. But, with the grace of God, the morale of our Mujahideen is very high, even more than the past years. We will be using many new tactics against the foreign troops and will fight them rigorously. God willing, there will be a high increase in attacks over them.
Q: The US government has announced a bounty of $5 million on your head. What’s your reaction to it?
A: In the past we didn’t believe that USA is really considering us as its real enemy. Now when it has put a bounty of $5 million on my head, we are now very happy that our jihadi operations are harming the Americans. We are successful in our aims, and that’s why they have announced the bounty.
Q: Will this placing of bounty on your head, change your schedule and activities? What’s your impression?
A: I don’t feel any difference. We have not changed our schedules. God is great. All the powers whether it is America or any other country, are under the hands of Allah. God will keep us safe. There’s no shift in our activities. We are busy in pushing forward our jihadi activities. This is now the season for jihad and we have deputed our commanders in various parts of Afghanistan for operations against the foreign troops.
Q: Few days back, Taliban Spokesman Zabeehullah Mujahid told us that this year will be a decisive year for the Taliban and US troops. Do you think the same?
A: Every year, the Americans claim that this year will be a decisive year, but then they find no results. Praise to be God, for Mujahideen every year is full of successes. We don’t claim that we will push and defeat America this year and compel them withdraw their troops. We have told our friends that even if America talks of one year, we should keep 10 to 20 years before us. We are fighting this war for the sake of Allah, and we should not keep it limited to a short period of time. We should be ready to look into long term gains.
Q: Do you believe that the Afghan crisis should end through negotiations instead of war? Is there any chance of negotiating with the government of President Karzai?
A: Absolutely not right now. The Shura elders are there. Mujahideen are fighting under the leadership of Amir-ul-Momineen . We have people for negotiations. But right now we don’t want to negotiate. We don’t give it any priority at this time. Right now, the government in Afghanistan is not independent. It’s a puppet in the hands of invaders. The Afghan government doesn’t speak on its own. It speaks what is told by the outsiders. This doesn’t give any results. So unless we have freed Afghanistan from the invaders, we don’t want to negotiate with anybody.
Q: It is reported that some negotiations were held in Saudi Arabia with the consent of USA between the Afghan government and Taliban. Do you have information on that?
A: According to my information, there has been no negotiation in this regard. Even the top Taliban leaders have rejected any such move. Old Taliban leaders like Mullah Mutawakkil or Abdul Salam Zaeef who are sort of under house arrest, cannot talk on behalf of Taliban’s official policy. Though in past they were part of the Taliban government but now they don’t have any authority of speaking on behalf of Taliban. So until now, no Taliban leader from our side has participated in any dialogue.
Q: There are some suspicions in Afghanistan and outside world that your father Maulana Jalaluddin Haqqani is not related to Taliban. It is said that the Haqqani Network is either a separate group or belongs to some other groups. What’s your take on that?
A: Praise to be God, since the time of jihad in Afghanistan, my father was against the existence of so many groups. He didn’t believe in so many organizations and wanted them to be scrapped. And later on when the USSR was defeated and the Najeeb government came to an end, many new groups emerged. My father wished them to be united together. Then my father endorsed the Taliban leader, Amir-ul-Momineen, ( leader of faithfuls) as soon the Taliban came on the scene. Since then he is an important leader in the Shura of Mullah Omar, and follows his directives in pushing forward the strategies and operations in Afghanistan.
Q: There are some news reports that Taliban have appointed new governors in your area. Do you have more information on this?
A: True. I can not give much detail right now. But it is a fact that there are appointments of new governors. The responsibility for the three southeastern provinces which includes Khost, Paktia and Paktika, has been given to me. We appointed governors for these provinces, but right now I don’t want to give their names or details. Our work is successfully going forward and we have appointed governors for all the provinces.
Q: In the past Taliban had committed some mistakes in regard to the education especially for women. If you again come into power, would you commit the same mistakes?
A: Even at that time the Taliban policy was very much in accordance with Quran and Islam. However, there were some Taliban who were considered to be extremists. They were bringing a bad name to Taliban movement. Praise to be God, now the Taliban movement has no such elements. Those mistakes will not be repeated, God willing.
Q: Do you believe in the education of women and their role and participation in various departments? A: For this we have the constitution and Taliban scholars who can more accurately talk on this. But I believe if the women are clad in purdha and have separate education from male, so I think there is no harm in it.
Q: It is a fact that war is fought on money and weapons. Can you tell where you get these things from to stand up against 42 nations of the world?
A: Praise to be God, so far we have never felt any dearth of resources and have never thought where they are coming from. When we were fighting jihad against the USSR, it was said that support is coming from the USA. And now when we are fighting against the USA, fingers are pointed towards Pakistan, Russia and Gulf countries. But according to my information, none of these countries have given us any aid in official capacity. We have only the help of God and also from some good Muslim individuals around the world.
Q: Some people say that you have close links with the Pakistani ISI? Is this true?
A: It’s the ISI that has damaged us most. During jihad period against the USSR, ISI had close links with almost all the Mujahideen. But now the Taliban movement doesn’t keep any relation with the ISI. So far, most of Taliban leaders have been arrested or killed in Pakistan. Our houses were bombarded there. Our children were killed there. And this destruction was not possible without the help from ISI. We have no friendship or contacts with the ISI. The Taliban movement has been damaged more by Pakistan than any other country. This is only a propaganda war against the Taliban that claim we have links with ISI.
Q: What about the role of Hizb-e-Islami in the southeastern provinces like Khost and Paktia. Are they partners with you?
A: There’s no formal presence of Hizb-e-Islami here in these provinces. Some of their old members, who have joined our movement, are there with us. But they are not operating here independently.
Q: Can you say how many fighters you have?
A: As compared to the last few years, our number has grown tremendously. Now such a huge number of people from Afghanistan are joining our ranks that we find it difficult to provide them weapons properly. Praise to be God, even the very common Afghans have risen against the current set up and they are joining us. We don’t have any formal count. But I will say that all Afghans are standing behind us now.
Q: President Karzai and Intelligence Chief in Kabul Mullah Sani have accused you of plotting an attack on Serena hotel, another on Karzai, and kidnapping of several people from Kabul. Have you done this?
A: I am not involved directly. Though, I had my advice for them. It’s in fact planned and executed in accordance to the directives of Taliban Shura. I didn’t execute these attacks individually. I was only a part of it.
Q: Sometimes back, an Afghan intelligence official had claimed that Maulana Jalaluddin Haqqani has bee died of stomach problem. Is there any truth in this?
A: He had some ailment. But then we released a video of him. Praise to be God, he is alive and in good health. He is very contented and most of the operations are conducted in accordance with his advice and directives. Whatever we do, we ask for his advice and orders. He is in full control of everything.
Q: Baitullah Mehsud has taken responsibility for an attack in America. Is there any chance that you carry out attacks inside USA?
A: No. We don’t have any such policy right now. Our policy is limited to Afghanistan only. Because our country has been invaded by foreigners. We have asked our allies whether living in Pakistan or any other part of the world to carry out attacks against Americans only in Afghanistan and not in any other country. Our policy is that we would not interfere in the affairs of any other country whether it is an Islamic or non-Islamic country.
Q: Obama has announced a new policy for Afghanistan. Have you heard about it? And what is your reaction to it?
A: There’s no difference between the old and new US policies for Afghanistan. The fighting will be intensifying. We are ready for that. There were high claims that Obama’s policy will be very much different from the Bush policies. There will prevail peace instead of war. But we see that Obama has been placing bounties on our heads. So it means that there’s no change in the policies of Bush and Obama. These are the two ears of one donkey.
Q: Any message in the name of Afghan nation ...
A: My message to the Afghan nation is that our jihad against America has reached to such a stage where our success against them is imminent. Praise to be God, the NATO and USA are now crying out for help and assistance for more troops, despite the fact that they have lots of resources at hand. It’s because that Mujahideen are backed by the common Afghans. We ask our people to further increase their support for Mujahideen. Afghans should not support the Afghan government and USA in their designs to build an Afghan militia or army. They should not support such a move. Because, this is aimed at to be used against the Afghan nation and put them fighting among themselves. We don’t want to fight against our own Afghans. We ask the whole world to come for the support of Taliban. If they cannot come in person, they should support us financially. We especially request the people in Gulf countries to increase their aid for Mujahideen in Afghanistan. It’s a propaganda that some countries are giving aid to Taliban. Our only aid comes from the Muslim individuals, and we want them to increase it more.
Q: USA and the government of President Karzai have been saying that you are commanding some foreign fighters including Abu Yahya Al-Libi and Abu Akasha and some other Arab fighters, and that you have training camps inside Khost, Paktia and also in Pakistani territory Waziristan. What’s your opinion on this?
A: It’s something wrong to mix-up the policies of Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Whatever the policy of Al-Qaeda is for the world, we don’t interfere in that. But the policy of Taliban is that Afghanistan has been invaded by foreigners and we want to get it free. As our country has been invaded, so we want all the people whether they are Arabs, Punjabis, Uzbeks or from any other nationalities to help us against the invaders. However, we don’t endorse Al-Qaeda policies of conducting attacks around the world.
Q: Have you seen Osama in the recent past?
A: No. I have never met Osama. Though, my father has met him several times during jihad time.
Q: Do you know how his health is?
A: I don’t know anything about him.
