[Guardian] The Taliban have announced the death of Jalaluddin Haqqani, the leader of Afghanistan’s Haqqani militant group ‐ one of the most powerful and feared affiliates of the insurgency.The Taliban said he died after "a long struggle with a disease", according to the monitoring group Site.
According to the statement, Haqqani has been buried in Afghanistan.
Haqqani originally founded the group to fight Soviet occupation in the 1970s, and was once funded by the CIA and lionised by some in the US.
Haqqani relinquished operational leadership of the group some years ago to his son Sirajuddin Haqqani, now deputy leader of the Afghan Taliban.
Haqqani joined the Taliban government as minister for tribal affairs after they captured Kabul in 1996, fleeing after they were ousted in late 2001 and taking up arms again.