US senator questions Pakistan’s ability to target Haqqanis

Senator says Pakistan must take action against extremist groups which had links with the ISI.

WASHINGTON: US Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) raised an eyebrow at Pakistan’s ‘unwillingness or inability’ to take decisive action against the Haqqani terrorist network and its leadership, at an event organised by the United States Institute of Peace on Thursday. The senator said that the Haqqani group and its syndicate network was conducting attacks in the east of Afghanistan, while discussing her trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan in August this year.

A member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Shaheen travelled to the region in August with Democratic Senators Carl Levin and Jeff Merkley.

In her speech, Senator Shaheen acknowledged Pakistan’s action against extremists within its own borders, saying, “Pakistanis are firing on fellow Pakistanis.”

However, she said, Pakistan must take action against extremist groups with links to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). She said she was told in her meetings with US and Pakistani officials that the three issues that had led to US-Pakistan relations being at an all-time low were ‘WikiLeaks, the Raymond Davis controversy and the Osama Bin Laden raid.’

Speaking about her meeting with the Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani, Shaheen said that she had a newfound appreciation for the efforts being made by the Pakistani military after being briefed about the casualties suffered by the army.



Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2011.