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The United States has lifted the bounty of a whopping USD 10 million dollars on a major Taliban figure, Sirajuddin Haqqani, after the group released an American citizen last week, Al Jazeera reported.
The bounty had been placed for information leading to the arrest of Haqqani, an Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs spokesperson said. Despite the announcement, which was made on Saturday, the FBI still lists the reward on its website, saying Haqqani was "believed to have coordinated and participated in cross-border attacks against United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan," as reported by Al Jazeera. The removal of the bounty comes after the Taliban on Thursday released a US citizen who had been kept in captivity for two years. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that George Glezmann, who was wrongfully detained in Afghanistan for two and a half years, was freed. The Taliban kidnapped George Glezmann, 65, while he was visiting Afghanistan. They freed him following negotiations brokered by Trump's special hostage envoy Adam Boehler, Taliban officials and Qatari officials, according to the New York Post. "George Glezmann is free. George was wrongfully detained in Afghanistan for two and a half years, but now he's on his way to being reunited with his wife Aleksandra. Welcome home, George!" Rubio said in a post on X. Notably, Taliban had previously described the release of US detainees as part of its global "normalisation" effort. Haqqani, the son of a commander from the war against the Soviets, was head of the powerful Haqqani Network, a US-designated "terror group" long viewed as one of the most dangerous armed groups in Afghanistan, as reported by Al Jazeera. He had continued to be on the US radar even after the Taliban takeover. (ANI)
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