The third most important target the US has in Afghanistan, after Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar, is the Taliban minister for tribes and frontier regions, military commander Mullah Jalaluddin Haqqani. Washington has homed in on him thrice, raining bombs and missiles on his possible hideouts in Kabul, Gardez and Khost, killing 40 people.
Why the 55-year-old Haqqani? His supporters say the US is hunting him because he refused to defect from the Taliban, consequently derailing US efforts to wean away the moderates from the student militia. Stories in the Pakistani press portrayed him as the leader who could lead the revolt of the moderates against Mullah Omar's leadership and represent the Pashtoons in a new, broad-based government.
Haqqani's men also argue that their leader has been targeted because of his organisational ability and experience in waging guerrilla war. As a veteran of such tactics against the Soviets between 1979-89, Haqqani could make life difficult for any other invading force or an anti-Taliban government, particularly in the southern provinces of his native Khost and neighbouring Paktia and Paktika.
The camps Haqqani built at Zhawara near the Pakistani border in Khost during the war not only served as training centres for the Afghan mujahideen but also provided well-protected sites for storing arms and ammunition and other supplies. The Soviet Red Army repeatedly attacked the Zhawara camps without much success. The US too had attacked these with Cruise missiles on August 20, 1998, in retaliation for the bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Haqqani's house in Kabul was attacked on the night the Taliban was retreating from the city. His house was partially damaged but no one was killed. The second attack came on his residence in Paktia's capital of Gardez on November 13. Haqqani's 22-year-old brother-in-law Khan Aqa, a student of the Jalalabad Medical College, died in the raid. Four days later, the US attacked a madrassa and a base run by Haqqani one kilometre from Khost town. Some 39 people who were offering prayers were killed instantaneously. And the pressure shows no sign of abating.