Minister of Borders and Tribal Affairs and governor of Paktia Province. In October 2001, Haqqani was named the Taliban's military commander. He may have had a role in expediting the escape of Osama Bin Laden. Initially the Americans tried to convince him to turn against the Taliban. He refused their offers on the grounds that, as a Muslim, he was duty bound to resist them as "infidel invaders", just as he had the Soviets in earlier decades. His base in Khost was attacked and four Guantanamo detainees—Abib Sarajuddin, Khan Zaman, Gul Zaman and Mohammad Gul—were captured and held because American intelligence officials received a report that one of them had briefly hosted Haqqani shortly after the fall of the Taliban. A September 2008 US airstrike that allegedly targeted Haqqani resulted in the deaths of between ten and twenty-three people. The missile hit the house of Haqqani in the village Dandi Darpa Khail in North Waziristan and a close by seminary. The madrasah, though, was closed and Haqqani had previously left the area. Haqqani has been accused by the United States of involvement in the 2008 Indian embassy bombing in Kabul and the February 2009 Kabul raids. Role in the Taliban insurgency Haqqani was the commander, with his son Sirajuddin, of the Haqqani network. The network is made up of resistance forces waging a jihad against US-led NATO forces and the Islamic republic of Afghanistan. On 16 October 2011, "Operation Knife Edge" was launched by NATO and Afghan forces against the Haqqani network in south-eastern Afghanistan. Afghan Defense Minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, explained that the operation will "help eliminate the insurgents before they struck in areas along the troubled frontier". Both he and his son, Sirajuddin appear to have been the first Taliban to adopt the Iraqi tactic of using suicide bombers, and their network is accused of engaging in kidnappings, beheadings, the killing of women, and assassinations. George Gittoes, the Australian maker of Pashto-language films at his Yellow House in Jalalabad says Haqqani, who has befriended him, would be ready to support Ashraf Ghani in future Afghan elections. Personal life Haqqani was fluent in Persian, Arabic, Urdu and his native Pashto language. He had two wives, a Pashtun wife and an Arab wife from the United Arab Emirates, and had at least seven sons: Sirajuddin Haqqani – A son of the Arab Emirati wife. He currently leads the day-to-day activities