Washington: The United States is keeping up pressure on the Pakistan-linked Haqqani network, acting US State Department deputy spokesman said on Wednesday, just days ahead of a congressional deadline on whether to designate it a terrorist group.
Giving a routine press briefing to reporters at State Department, Patrick Ventrell said “We’ve been pretty clear for a long time… that the US policy is to put pressure on the Haqqani network,”
“That includes both the sanctions we have already disclosed, but also military pressure as well.”
In other statement on Wednesday, the Deputy Commander of US forces in Afghanistan also termed Haqqani network a ‘lethal threat’.
While briefing the reporters in Pentagon via live link from Kabul, Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. James Terry said that Haqqani network was a lethal threat but “our forces remain engaged to neutralize that”.
He recalled that Haqqani network had carried-out some attacks in Kabul recently but suggested that “their ability to attack outside Kabul had been greatly reduced”. He, however, refused to clearly attribute recent combats on the Pak-Afghan border to the activities of Haqqani network.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that she will meet an obligation to decide by Sunday whether the Haqqani network should be considered terrorists.
US lawmakers have pressed her to blacklist the group, but some US officials have warned such a move could further fray already fragile ties with Pakistan.
US officials have linked the Haqqani network to some of the boldest attacks in Afghanistan including a June assault on a hotel near Kabul that killed 18 people and a siege last year of the US embassy.
Clinton last week declined comment on which way she is leaning, but said the United States was already “putting steady pressure” on the Haqqani network.
The State Department has designated certain members of the Haqqani network as terrorists but has resisted blacklisting the entire group.
It is to be mentioned here that the recent statements by the US officials indicate that although US considers Haqqani Network as a great threat to Afghan and ISAF forces in Afghanistan but on the other hand it did not want to designate it as a terror group as it could dismantle the peace negotiations.
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