Critics recall Taliban leader's 2020 New York Times op-ed after link established to slain Al Zawahiri

A link between slain terrorist Ayman Al Zawahiri and Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani has critics recalling the latter's infamous 2020 op-ed in the New York Times.

In addition to heading the terrorist Haqqani network, Haqqani is deputy leader of the Taliban, the militant Islamist organization now ruling Afghanistan in the wake of the U.S.-backed government's collapse last year following Biden's troop withdrawal. He also serves as the country's interior minister, and his connections to Zawahiri underscore the bond between their extremist groups. A senior Biden administration official said Monday that Haqqani Taliban members were aware of his presence at the Kabul safe house and took action to conceal it after he was killed.

The Times raised eyebrows when it published an op-ed by Haqqani on Feb. 20, 2020, when the Taliban was in the midst of talks with the Trump administration about a possible U.S. troop withdrawal and an end to the Afghanistan war, which began in 2001 when U.S. forces toppled the Taliban. Haqqani expressed a lack of trust in the U.S. but said an agreement would allow Afghans to enjoy "our shared home where everybody would have the right to live with dignity, in peace." Despite his terrorist actions, he was only identified by the Times as the "deputy leader of the Taliban."