LeT outreach extends to West: Mullen

LeT has spread its tentacles to Afghanistan and the West and has become more active claims Admiral Mullen.

The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has spread its tentacles to Afghanistan and the West and has become more active throughout the region, which warrants a concerted action against the outfit, a top US commander said on Saturday.

“I have watched [the] LeT grow since the end of 2008, move to the West, become more active in other countries, more active throughout the region, more engaged with other terrorist groups,” Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a group of senior journalists at the US embassy.

Besides expanding to the West, the LeT “is in Afghanistan (and) other countries”, Mullen said in response to questions.

He said there is “heightened concern about (LeT’s) emergence and what is significant (is its) emergence not only on the regional stage but potentially as a terror organisation with global aspirations”.

“There is an increased level of concern where the LeT is and where it appears to be headed. It is something we all have to address,” he said.

In response to a pointed question on the same issue, Mullen indicated he had raised the matter with the Pakistani leadership on more than one occasion. “I tried to make the case that the LeT is a growing threat, it is an organisation that is becoming more lethal. (This has been) proven and it is not just operating where it used to be. It’s expanding, it is in the West, it is in Afghanistan, it is in other countries. All of us have to be concerned about it,” he said.

Replying to another question, Mullen said the US believed top al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, are in Pakistan.

The presence of these terrorist leaders in the region is a reason why “a principal part of the overall Af-Pak strategy is focussed on eliminating safe havens” for them, he said.

He denied the presence of US “special” or “secret” forces on the Pakistani soil, and emphasised that only troops with a mandate to train Pakistan army were here.

When told that two US senators had demanded evacuation of “special troops” from Pakistan, Mullen said it was the senators’ own viewpoint, “but we work under the direction of the US president”.

He said the US attaches great importance to military ties with Pakistan and wants to cement them further. These relations are not limited to the army alone, but also cover the navy and air force. “There are no ‘secret’ or ‘special’ troops in Pakistan,” he said.

About a perception that the US largely depends on intelligence supplied by New Delhi with regard to terrorism, he said “we do not receive information or intelligence from India. Our focus is the border region which is where the terrorists have their safe havens and from where US-allied forces in Afghanistan are attacked”.

On a question about three-year extension in service given to Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, he said this was an internal matter of Pakistan. Being a sovereign country, Pakistan makes its own decisions, he said. (With additional input from wires)

Published in The  Express Tribune, July 25^th, 2010.