This item, should the U.S. decide to follow through, runs distictly counter to the prescription in a previous post here, New York Review of Books piece by Ahmed Rashid Feb. 25, A Deal with the Taliban?, which specifically pores over the history of the Pakistani Taliban.
Maybe it's too late.
US mulls putting Pakistan Taliban on terrorism list
Tue May 11, 2010 4:40pm EDT* Pakistani Taliban tied to failed May 1 Times Square bomb
(EXCERPT)
* 'Terrorist' designation would lead to punitive measures
* Five Democratic senators urge Clinton to make the move (Adds more from State Department spokesman)
By Sue Pleming
WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it was looking into putting the Pakistani Taliban, the group tied to the failed car bombing in New York's Times Square, on the U.S. list of "foreign terrorist" groups.
Adding the Pakistani Taliban to the list would trigger punitive measures such as freezing assets tied to the group, barring foreign nationals with links to it from entering the United States and making it a crime to give any material help.
"It is something we are considering in light of what happened, and obviously the investigation will yield information that might give us greater clarity," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters.
Crowley said there was a lengthy legal process before a group could be designated a "foreign terrorist organization" and he did not know when a decision would be made.
"We have been focused on this group for some time and, without being specific, we have been working with our Pakistani counterparts and we have taken appropriate action to diminish the capabilities of this group and others in the region," Crowley said, referring to military action to target Pakistani Taliban leaders.
Faisal Shahzad, 30, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, was arrested two days after authorities say he parked a sport utility vehicle packed with a bomb in New York's busy Times Square on May 1.
1 comment:
I presume this is the carrot Hamid will offer Obama in DC…
...Taliban leaders may be offered exile overseas in third countries as part of a draft peace proposal by the Afghan government in an effort to persuade insurgents to end a nine-year-old U.S.-led war. The draft, distributed to some diplomats and seen by Reuters, also envisages the Taliban cutting ties with al Qaeda and joining the political mainstream as part of any peace accord. The draft plan comes weeks before a grand council of Afghans, known as a “Jirga”, that will meet in Kabul from May 29 to discuss how to make peace with the insurgents. Peace talks with the insurgents will be a key issue that President Hamid Karzai will discuss with U.S. President Barack Obama during his visit to Washington next week. “We are weary of war and division, and we have shed too many tears. Out of division let us build unity. Let us reintegrate and reconcile to achieve the stability and prosperity that have eluded us for too long,” stated a copy obtained by Reuters. “The package for these levels may include: addressing the problem of sanctuaries, measures for outreach and removal from the UN sanction list, ensuring severance of links with Al-Qaeda, security political accommodation and potential exile to a third country,” the draft added. The plan did not give more details...
I'm sure the PTT might howl if they're on the UN list and the Afghans, aren't...! ;-)
Btw, here's another great site...!
Uruknet...! Aloha, keep up the good work...!
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