Osama bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam both began their careers as volunteers for the Haqqani Network and trained to fight the Soviets.
An Afghan Taliban statement reads: “Just as he endured great hardships for the religion of Allah during his youth and health, he also endured long illness during his later years.”
Haqqani founded the network in the 1970s as part of an anti-Soviet jihad.
Haqqani voluntarily gave up the operational leadership of the group some years ago to give it to his son, Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is now deputy leader of the Afghan Taliban.
The Taliban said on Twitter Jalaluddin “was from among the great distinguished Jihadi personalities of this era”.
The Haqqani network has been blamed for numerous deadly attacks against Indian interests in Afghanistan, including the 2008 bombing of the Indian mission in Kabul that killed 58 people.
The group has also carried out kidnappings and attacks against US interests in Afghanistan.
More to follow…