News
Sunday, September 02, 2012Washington seems set to brand Haqqani network as ‘terrorists’
* NYT report says terror designation will help curb group's fundraising activities in Saudi Arabia, UAE
* Will also pressure Pakistan to undertake action against insurgents
WASHINGTON: The United States is considering declaring the Haqqani network a terrorist organisation, The New York Times reported late on Friday.
With a Congressional reporting deadline looming, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and top military officials are said to favour placing sanctions on the network, which operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to half a dozen current and former administration officials.
Citing unnamed current and former administration officials, the newspaper said a terror designation would help curb the group's fundraising activities in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other countries, and pressure Pakistan to undertake military action against the terrorists.
Senior military officers like General John Allen, the commander of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, and many top counterterrorism officials are pushing for the designation, which President Barack Obama's administration has been debating for nearly two years, according to the paper.
But it said no final decision has been made amid a fierce internal debate in the administration ahead of a congressional deadline looming in September. Opponents, including some in the White House, were said to worry about the serious consequences such a move could have on already shaky ties with Pakistan and peace talks with the Taliban.
The move could also bring Pakistan closer to being designated a state sponsor of terror shortly after the country reopened critical NATO supply routes through its territory.
"The optics of designating look great, and the chest-thumping is an understandable expression of sentiment, but everyone has to calm down and say, 'What does it actually do?'" an administration official involved in the debate told the newspaper. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also cited as saying that she would meet Congress's September 9 deadline, though she declined to discuss the debate.
"I'd like to underscore that we are putting steady pressure on the Haqqanis," she said. "That is part of what our military does every day."
The Haqqani network is a faction of the Afghan Taliban whose leaders are based in neighbouring Pakistan, where Islamabad has come under immense US pressure to wage an offensive against the group.
Critics also contend that a designation by the Treasury Department or the United Nations, or under an existing executive order, could achieve the same result as adding the network to the much more prominent State Department list, with far fewer consequences.
The internal debate has been so divisive that the US intelligence community has been assigned to prepare classified analyses on the possible repercussions of a designation on Pakistan.
The network has been blamed for a series of well coordinated, commando-style raids on the Afghan capital targeting foreign embassies, NATO bases and government buildings. agenciesCourtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk