Top Militant Captured in Afghanistan

Haji Mali Khan, a suspected senior leader of the militant Haqqani network, has been captured in Afghanistan, according to NATO forces there.

Khan, who was heavily armed but did not resist, was captured during a joint operation between Afghan and coalition forces, according to the BBC.

The Haqqani network has been blamed for recent militant attacks in Afghanistan and is also believed to have connections to Pakistan.

Khan, an elder of the network, is the uncle of its leader, Siraj Haqqani, and was reportedly a liaison between the Haqqanis and Pakistan’s Taliban. He is suspected of setting up militant bases in Paktia province, which is adjacent to the border with Pakistan, and funneling money to various militant operations.

''Haji Mali Khan was in charge of suicide attacks, other attacks, money, finance and operations,” a senior counter-terrorism official told the BBC. “He was not as brutal as other Haqqanis when it came to dealing with locals. For that he was liked and protected from time to time."

The Haqqani group has come under increased scrutiny from U.S. and coalition forces in recent months, as the family and apparent militant network — boasting a reported 10-15,000 fighters — has been suspected of involvement with several high profile attacks in Afghanistan. An attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul in June, the recent assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, and the September attack on the U.S. embassy in Kabul.

U.S. officials are currently mulling a decision to officially call the Haqqani network a terrorist group. Doing so would allow the U.S. to freeze assets and prevent American citizens from giving financial support to the network.

“We are in the final, formal review that has to be undertaken to make a government-wide decision to designate the network a foreign terrorist organization” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters Wednesday, according to Reuters.