New York Times Correspondent Criticizes Paper For Publishing Op-Ed From Taliban Leader

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The New York Times published an opinion piece Thursday by Sirajuddin Haqqani — the deputy leader of the Taliban who is currently wanted by the United States government — drawing criticism from one of the paper’s own reporters.

The piece is titled “What We, the Taliban, Want” and references the conditionally approved peace deal between the Taliban and the U.S.

“We are about to sign an agreement with the United States and we are fully committed to carrying out its every single provision, in letter and spirit,” Haqqani wrote.

The New York Times has taken criticism for granting Haqqani a platform on which he painted the terrorist organization in a positive light and implied that they simply want peace.

Haqqani insisted he is “convinced that the killing and the maiming must stop,” adding, “We did not choose our war with the foreign coalition led by the United States. We were forced to defend ourselves.”

“The withdrawal of foreign forces has been our first and foremost demand,” he wrote.

Mujib Mashal, the New York Times senior correspondent in Afghanistan, expressed his disapproval of the piece on Twitter. After drawing a distinction between the Times news operation and opinion pages, Mashal wrote, “Siraj is no Taliban peace-maker as he paints himself.”

The piece by Siraj Haqqani in @nytopinion – which’s independent of our news operations & judgment – omits the most fundamental fact: that Siraj is no Taliban peace-maker as he paints himself, that he’s behind some of most ruthless attacks of this war with many civilian lives lost

— Mujib Mashal (@MujMash) February 20, 2020

In a subsequent tweet, Mashal urged readers to write to the paper’s opinion editors.

The decision to publish the piece has also come under question considering the Taliban kidnapped New York Times journalist David Rohde in 2008. Rohde escaped after seven months in captivity.