Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton on Wednesday designated
Pakistan's largest Taliban umbrella group as an official "foreign terrorist organization."
The group, known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP), which took credit for the attempted May 1 bombing
of New York's Times Square, is now threatening to attack Western aid workers
assisting Pakistan with its ongoing flood crisis, according
to State Department officials.
Last fall, the Pakistani Army launched an ambitious
offensive aimed at rooting the group out of its stronghold in South Waziristan,
but top leaders such as Hakimullah Mehsud
and Wali Ur Rehman, who the United
States has named "specially designated global terrorists," remain at
large.
The TTP is widely suspected of being involved in the 2007
assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. A 2009 suicide attack on the U.S. consulate in
Peshawar was
led by the TTP.
President Obama's top counterterrorism advisor John Brennan said
in May that the TTP was "closely allied" with al Qaeda. "They train together,
they plan together, they plot together," he said. "They are almost
indistinguishable."
Because U.S. law requires that an organization pose a direct
threat to the United States in order to be listed, the TTP's claim of
involvement in the Times Square bombing attempt was significant. Now, the U.S.
government can prosecute anyone giving "material aid" to the TTP, and the
government can freeze the group's assets in the United States.
Lawmakers and some experts had been calling on the State
Department to take
action sooner.
"We cannot wait any longer to go after this group with
everything we've got. This organization poses an existential threat to the
safety of not only our soldiers fighting abroad, but also Americans here at
home. It's time we dealt them with using every tool at our disposal," Sen. Chuck Schumer, NY,
said
in May.
UPDATE: The State Department has sent out
some additional information, including that there is a $5 million reward for
information leading to the location of Mehsud and Rehman.
Spokesman P.J. Crowley detailed the ties
between the TTP and al Qaeda:
"TTP and al-Qaida have a symbiotic
relationship; TTP draws ideological guidance from al-Qaida, while al-Qaida
relies on TTP for safe haven in the Pashtun areas along the Afghan-Pakistani
border. This mutual cooperation gives TTP access to both al-Qaidas global
terrorist network and the operational experience of its members. Given the
proximity of the two groups and the nature of their relationship, TTP is a
force multiplier for al-Qaida," Crowley said.
States Coordinator for Counterterrorism Daniel
Benjamin focused on the Times Square episode:
"Faisal Shahzads attempted attack on U.S.
soil highlights the direct threat posed by the Pakistani Taliban Todays actions
put the TTP and its sympathizers on notice that the United States will not
tolerate support to this organization, which has inflicted great harm to U.S.
and Pakistani interests," said Benjamin.
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