State Department officials say that they are considering
whether to add Pakistan's Haqqani network to their list of foreign terrorist
organizations, and now Congress is moving to force them to show their work.
"We are continuing to review whether to designate
the entire [Haqqani] organization," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told
reporters in September, only days after then Joint Chiefs
Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen testified
to Congress that the group was directly responsible
for a deadly Sept. 13 attack on the U.S. embassy and NATO headquarters in Kabul
that left nine dead and 23 injured.
Mullen also said that the Haqqani network was a
"veritable arm" of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's premier spy
agency. That accusation encapsulates the State Department's conundrum over
designating the Haqqani network as terrorists: If it does, it is only one short
step away from being pressured into naming Pakistan as a State Sponsor of Terror,
a move that would shatter whatever is left of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a show out of naming
and shaming the Haqqani network during her recent
trip to Pakistan in October. But does she really intend to designate it as a
foreign terrorist organization? Several senators moved on Wednesday to force
her to say one way or the other.
Sen.
Richard Burr (R-NC) introduced on Wednesday
the "Haqqani Network Terrorist Designation Act," which would require a report
from Clinton on the issue. The report would be required to take a position on whether
the Haqqani network meets the criteria for designation as a terrorist
organization under section 219 of
the Immigration and Naturalization Act. If Clinton determines that it should
not be classified as a terrorist organization, the bill requires a detailed
justification as to why not.
"The
Haqqanis are a violent extremist group who have perpetrated deadly attacks on
U.S. forces and innocent Afghan civilians, used murder as an intimidation
tactic against the Afghan people, and employed suicide attacks with deadly
effectiveness," Burr said in a Wednesday statement. "Their size,
resources, experience, and well organized execution of attacks makes them an
extremely dangerous group, and they deserve to be classified as a terrorist
organization. This designation would
allow us to more aggressively pursue them as well as limit the ability of
foreign governments to provide them with aid and assistance."
Burr
is joined on his mission by a very powerful Democrat, Senate Intelligence
Committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein
(D-CA).
"There is no question that the
Haqqani network meets the standards for designation specified in Section 219 of
the Immigration and Nationality Act," Feinstein wrote in a Sept. 22 letter
to Clinton. "It conducts attacks
against U.S. targets and personnel in Afghanistan, and poses a continuing
threat to American, Afghan, and allied personnel and interests."
In addition to the Sept. 13 attacks,
Feinstein said that the Haqqani network was responsible for the June 28 attack
on the Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, which killed 20 people, and the Sept.
10 truck bombing in Wardak province that killed five Afghans and injured 77
U.S. troops.
In addition to Burr and Feinstein, the new bill is
co-sponsored by Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Dan Coats (R-IN), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Bill
Nelson (D-FL), Mark Warner (D-VA),
James Inhofe (R-OK), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Bob Corker (R-TN), and Mark Kirk (R-IL).
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