The Haqqani Network (HQN) is a militant organization operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan that was formed in the late 1980s. HQN has planned and carried out numerous significant attacks and kidnappings against U.S. and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, the Afghan government, and civilian targets. In June 2012, an HQN suicide bomb attack against a U.S. military base in Khost, Afghanistan, killed two U.S. soldiers and wounded more than 100 others. Afghan officials blamed HQN for a May 2017 truck bomb explosion in Kabul that killed more than 150 people. HQN was believed to be responsible for a January 2018 ambulance bombing in Kabul that killed more than 100 people. Afghan officials also blamed HQN for a January 2018 attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul that killed 22 people.

On September 19, 2012, the U.S. Department of State designated HQN as a Foreign Terrorist Organization under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended. Previously, on September 7, 2012, the Department of State designated HQN as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist pursuant to Executive Order 13224, as amended. As a result, all of HQN’s property, and interests in property, subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with HQN. It is a crime to knowingly provide, or to attempt or conspire to provide, material support or resources to HQN.