US senators too want Pakistani groups labelled terrorists

WASHINGTON - Two US senators have backed a reported demand by the new top American general in Afghanistan to declare Pakistan’s Haqqani network and the Pakistani Taliban as foreign terrorists.

The Obama administration, according to the New York Times, is seriously considering General David H. Petraeus’ proposal of blacklisting the Haqqani group. The idea was broached late last week in discussions with President Barack Obama’s senior advisers on Pakistan and Afghanistan, it said citing several administration officials.

Just back from a visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Democratic senators Carl Levin and Jack Reed backed the general’s demand, saying Pakistan is not doing enough against the Afghan-Taliban, including the Haqqani network.

Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Reed also repeated Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s warning to Islamabad that any future terror attack against the US or Europe that can be traced back to that country would invite “very serious” consequences.

“These fighting elements continue to cross the border and flip damage upon Afghani forces and American forces and the government of Pakistan has to do a much more effective job of controlling these groups within their own country,” Reed said.

“They also have to recognise that any attack in the United States or in Europe that can be traced back to the Pakistani tribal areas or elsewhere would invite very serious consequences,” he said.

“There is no excuse for those groups not to be on the foreign terrorist list. It’s long overdue, and both the Taliban and the Haqqani network inside of Pakistan should be added to that list to reflect the important, the seriousness that we give to their presence in Pakistan, unmolested by the Pakistanis, even though their locations are known, the headquarters are known to the Pakistan government,” Levin said.

Noting that these terrorist groups use Pakistan as a safe haven and as staging area for attacks into Afghanistan, Levin said: “What they haven’t done is take on the two groups that attack into Afghanistan. The groups they have taken on are the groups and individuals that attacked Pakistani targets and well they should.”

“What continues to be a source of instability in Afghanistan and potential great difficulty is their ambivalence about certain cross-border terrorist groups.”