Explosion in Afghanistan Kills Minister in Highest-Profile Blast Since Taliban’s Return

An explosion in Afghanistan’s capital on Wednesday killed a Taliban official who was a member of one of the country’s most powerful political families, government officials said.

The death of the minister, Khalil ur Rahman Haqqani, was the highest-profile killing in Afghanistan since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover of the country. It was a strike at the heart of the Taliban’s power structure after years of essentially unchallenged dominance, and comes at a moment of strife within the group.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. The government blamed an Islamic State affiliate known as ISIS-K, which has been one of the few remaining antagonists to the Taliban.

Mr. Haqqani, the minister of refugees and repatriation, was a senior member of the Haqqani Network, an influential faction within the Taliban. The United States and the United Nations have designated the Haqqani Network as a terrorist organization.

His nephew Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting interior minister, has led efforts to reshape the Taliban’s global image. Since the Taliban’s new rise to power, the Haqqanis have appeared eager to reach out to the West for recognition — to little effect so far.

That effort has at times also seemed at odds with the dictates of the Taliban’s supreme leader, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, who has issued a series of increasingly harsh edicts restricting women’s rights and freedoms in Afghanistan, which have been unpopular not only abroad but also at home.