Explosion in Afghanistan Kills Minister in Highest-Profile Blast Since Taliban’s Return

The government accused the Islamic State of being behind the attack, which struck at the heart of the Taliban’s power structure after years of essentially unchallenged dominance.

An explosion in Afghanistan’s capital on Wednesday killed a Taliban official who was a member of one of the country’s most powerful political families, government officials said.

The death of the minister, Khalil ur Rahman Haqqani, was the highest-profile killing in Afghanistan since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover of the country. It was a strike at the heart of the Taliban’s power structure after years of essentially unchallenged dominance, and comes at a moment of strife within the group.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. The government blamed an Islamic State affiliate known as ISIS-K, which has been one of the few remaining antagonists to the Taliban.

Mr. Haqqani, the minister of refugees and repatriation, was a senior member of the Haqqani Network, an influential faction within the Taliban. The United States and the United Nations have designated the Haqqani Network as a terrorist organization.

His nephew Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting interior minister, has led efforts to reshape the Taliban’s global image. Since the Taliban’s new rise to power, the Haqqanis have appeared eager to reach out to the West for recognition — to little effect so far.

That effort has at times also seemed at odds with the dictates of the Taliban’s supreme leader, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, who has issued a series of increasingly harsh edicts restricting women’s rights and freedoms in Afghanistan, which have been unpopular not only abroad but also at home.

The supreme leader’s actions have caused frustration within his own cabinet, as more pragmatic Taliban members argue for a less archaic policy. Chief among them is Sirajuddin Haqqani, who has been relatively outspoken about his desire to see girls go to school past the 6th grade, and for women to return to work in government offices.

Khalil Haqqani was something of an elder statesman in the family, a war hero twice over and the brother of the group’s founder, Jalaluddin Haqqani. Though an acting minister in the government, and a special representative of the Taliban’s supreme leader, he was not at the core of the family’s political power like his nephew.

Still, his killing is a brazen act against the Taliban government, which came to power promising security and peace, and could further inflame the internal tensions.

Mr. Haqqani was a crucial Taliban fund-raiser, according to the U.S. Treasury. He also led military operations and was an ally in Al Qaeda’s operations, according to a report by the United Nations Security Council.

The U.S. Treasury had named Mr. Haqqani a “specially designated global terrorist,” and the U.S. government had offered a reward of up to $5 million for information about him.

The ISIS branch, named for the historical region of Khorasan, was founded in 2015 by disaffected members of the Pakistani Taliban. The group captured international attention with a suicide bombing during the U.S. military withdrawal in August 2021. It has since struck at Taliban-controlled Afghanistan multiple times in a bid to destabilize the country’s new leadership.

The group has also launched attacks outside Afghanistan, including a massacre at a concert hall in Moscow, seen widely as retribution for Russia’s relationship with the Taliban.

The Haqqani Network emerged in Afghanistan’s conflict against the Soviet Union, and formed a relationship with Osama bin Laden, the Qaeda leader, according to the U.N. Security Council. The patriarch, Jalaluddin Haqqani, also cultivated relationships in the Saudi and Pakistani intelligence agencies, and built a network of fighters, sustained by a lucrative criminal operation.

Azam Ahmed contributed reporting.