The New York Times gave a platform to a deputy leader of the Taliban and a globally-designated terrorist, by allowing said terrorist to write an op-ed that was published on Thursday, as reported by Breitbart.
The terrorist is Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is currently wanted by the United States government for terrorism and has a $5 million bounty on his head by the FBI. His crimes include participating in a hotel bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan in January 2008, which killed six people, including one American citizen. Other crimes include attacks on U.S. forces in Afghanistan and an assassination attempt against the former President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, in 2008.
In his op-ed, Haqqani “recited Taliban propaganda,” “portrayed the Taliban as reasonable negotiators,” and laid out the terms and conditions for surrender to the Taliban. Haqqani claimed that “we did not choose our war with the foreign coalition led by the United States, we were forced to defend ourselves.” He also falsely accused the United States of “bombing campaign[s] against our villages,” without citing any evidence.
The New York Times failed to mention Haqqani’s criminal and terrorist history, instead simply identifying him as “deputy leader of the Taliban.”