US brands Haqqani network as terrorist
Source: Agencies |
September 8, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Obama administration has formally designated the Pakistan-based Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization, in a complicated political decision as the US withdraws from Afghanistan and pushes for a reconciliation pact to end more than a decade of warfare.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signed a report to Congress yesterday. The report states that the Pakistan-based Haqqani network "meets the statutory criteria for designation as a foreign terrorist organization."
Enraged by a string of high-profile attacks on US and NATO troops, Congress gave Clinton a Sunday deadline to deliver a report on whether the Haqqanis should be designated and all of its members subjected to US financial sanctions. Clinton's decision comes amid numerous disagreements within the administration about the utility of the designation.
The US already has placed sanctions on many Haqqani leaders and is targeting its members militarily but it had held back from formally designating the al-Qaida-linked network a terrorist group amid concerns about hampering peace efforts in Afghanistan and US relations with Pakistan.
The US long has branded the Haqqanis among the biggest threats to American and allied forces in Afghanistan, and to Afghanistan's long-term stability. A subsidiary of the Taliban, it is based in northern Pakistan but crosses the border to launch attacks, including a rocket-propelled grenade assault on the US Embassy and NATO compound in Kabul in September.
Jalaluddin Haqqani created his network while serving as a leader in the decade-long insurgency against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, which began in 1979.
He served as Afghanistan's justice minister after the Soviets left, and minister of tribal and border affairs after Taliban fundamentalists seized power in 1996. He joined the Taliban insurgency when the US helped overthrow the government after the Septenber 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Haqqani effectively retired in 2005, passing responsibility for day-to-day operations to his son Sirajuddin, who is accused of expanding the network's kidnapping and extortion operations.
Reports also accuse the Haqqanis of lucrative drug trafficking and smuggling activities.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signed a report to Congress yesterday. The report states that the Pakistan-based Haqqani network "meets the statutory criteria for designation as a foreign terrorist organization."
Enraged by a string of high-profile attacks on US and NATO troops, Congress gave Clinton a Sunday deadline to deliver a report on whether the Haqqanis should be designated and all of its members subjected to US financial sanctions. Clinton's decision comes amid numerous disagreements within the administration about the utility of the designation.
The US already has placed sanctions on many Haqqani leaders and is targeting its members militarily but it had held back from formally designating the al-Qaida-linked network a terrorist group amid concerns about hampering peace efforts in Afghanistan and US relations with Pakistan.
The US long has branded the Haqqanis among the biggest threats to American and allied forces in Afghanistan, and to Afghanistan's long-term stability. A subsidiary of the Taliban, it is based in northern Pakistan but crosses the border to launch attacks, including a rocket-propelled grenade assault on the US Embassy and NATO compound in Kabul in September.
Jalaluddin Haqqani created his network while serving as a leader in the decade-long insurgency against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, which began in 1979.
He served as Afghanistan's justice minister after the Soviets left, and minister of tribal and border affairs after Taliban fundamentalists seized power in 1996. He joined the Taliban insurgency when the US helped overthrow the government after the Septenber 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Haqqani effectively retired in 2005, passing responsibility for day-to-day operations to his son Sirajuddin, who is accused of expanding the network's kidnapping and extortion operations.
Reports also accuse the Haqqanis of lucrative drug trafficking and smuggling activities.
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