US to blacklist group despite Pakistan fears

The United States moved Friday to blacklist the Pakistan-linked Haqqani network as a terrorist group, despite concerns over the impact it will have on tense ties with Islamabad. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she had filed a report required by a Sunday deadline set by Congress to say that the Haqqani network -- known for bloody attacks in Afghanistan -- was a terrorist group. "Today, I have sent a report to Congress saying that the Haqqani Network meets the statutory criteria of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) for designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)," Clinton said. Founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a CIA asset turned Al-Qaeda ally who was also close to Pakistani intelligence, the Haqqani network is probably the most dangerous faction in the Afghan Taliban. Clinton, who is in Vladivostok for an Asia-Pacific summit, told US lawmakers she would now press ahead with the designation, which will make it a crime in the United States to provide the Haqqanis with any material support, and freeze any of the group's property or interests in the US. "We also continue our robust campaign of diplomatic, military, and intelligence pressure on the network, demonstrating the United States' resolve to degrade the organization's ability to execute violent attacks," she said. Clinton said she was taking the action "in the context of our overall strategy in Afghanistan" under a five-point policy laid out by President Barack Obama when he visited Afghanistan in May. These include boosting the ability of Afghan security forces to fight insurgents as NATO-led forces transition to handing the lead for security to their Afghan counterparts and encouraging an Afghan reconciliation. The United States blames the Haqqani network for some of the most spectacular attacks in Afghanistan, such as a 2011 siege on the US embassy and, in 2009, the deadliest attack on the CIA in 25 years. Admiral Mike Mullen, the former head of the US military, said before stepping down last year that the Haqqani network had become a "veritable arm" of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, prompting concern that a designation would indirectly be branding Pakistan a terrorist state. A senior Pakistani security official earlier Friday said a US move against the Haqqanis would negatively impact future ties, which have tentatively resumed after nosediving over the secret raid that killed Osama bin Laden and an air raid that accidentally killed 24 Pakistani troops. "Frankly speaking, any decision by the US to declare the Haqqani network a terror group will not be a good sign for future Pakistan-US relations," the official told AFP, asking to remain anonymous. But senior US officials downplayed such fears, insisting Islamabad had been informed in advance of the decision, and stressing the designation would not hamper any reconciliation talks with the Taliban. In weeks of talks, Pakistani civilian and military officials "did not express concern about this designation and remain committed to battling extremism in Pakistan," one senior official told reporters. "I do not foresee that this will have a negative impact on the overall relationship. "This is targeted specifically at the Haqqani network. It is not targeted in any way, at any organ of the Pakistani government." The Haqqani has training bases in eastern Afghanistan, is close to Al-Qaeda and its fighters are active across east and southeastern Afghanistan and in the capital Kabul. Militarily the most capable of the Taliban factions, the network operates independently but remains loyal to Taliban leader Mullah Omar and would probably fall behind any peace deal negotiated by the Taliban leadership. Another senior US official said the move against the Haqqani was giving the United States "greater tools to attack their financing." Deputy Assistant Secretary of Treasury for terrorist financing Luke Bronin has been visiting Pakistan this week for talks "focused on disrupting sources of terrorist financing to terrorist organizations," a Treasury statement said. The United States has already blacklisted individual leaders such as Jalaluddin Haqqani. Pakistani officials have in the past admitted to having contact with the Haqqanis as a hedge for influence when US troops leave Afghanistan, but deny supporting their operations and downplay the group's importance.