Friday, September 07, 2012

Secretary of State Clinton officially designated the militant Haqqani network as a terrorist organization

The Christian Science Monitor is asking if this will "push Pakistan into a corner"?


Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signed documents on Friday declaring the Haqqani network a foreign terrorist organization – a potential blow to US-Pakistan relations according to Pakistani analysts. 
The Haqqani network has long been a source of contention between the two countries. The US sees the group as a threat to NATO forces across the border, and a threat to Afghanistan's long-term stability as the US plans to withdraw next year. The network has been blamed for high-profile attacks, including one on the US Embassy in Kabul and the 2008 kidnapping of New York Times reporter David Rohde
Though Pakistan denies having close ties with the group, it has repeatedly dodged US pressure to carry out operations against the group. Analysts say that the Pakistani security establishment sees the Haqqani network as a key ally after US forces withdraw in 2014. 
The BBC says the Haqqani Network is connected to Al Qaeda:
The US has long described the Haqqani group as a major threat. 
The network - which has links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban - has carried out a series of high-profile attacks against foreign troops in Afghanistan.
Al Qaeda has been busying itself in Pakistan recently with attacks on Nuclear Facilities. Some of these attacks have, in the past, been focused on the acquisition of a Nuclear Weapon.

And, Al Qaeda assures us they would, indeed, use nukes on the United States, if they had them: 
(Reuters) - If it were in a position to do so, Al Qaeda would use Pakistan's nuclear weapons in its fight against the United States, a top leader of the group said in remarks aired on Sunday.
Pakistan has been battling al Qaeda's Taliban allies in the Swat Valley since April after their thrust into a district 100 km (60 miles) northwest of the capital raised fears the nuclear-armed country could slowly slip into militant hands.
"God willing, the nuclear weapons will not fall into the hands of the Americans and the mujahideen would take them and use them against the Americans," Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, the leader of al Qaeda's in Afghanistan, said in an interview with Al Jazeera television.

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