haqqani network

Pakistan faces a strategic crossroads, caught between alliances and regional conflicts. Past involvements in foreign wars, driven by external powers, have led to domestic instability and blowback. Now, a new defence pact with Saudi Arabia and escalating conflict with Afghanistan highlight the nation's struggle to balance relevance with long-term stability, risking further entanglement.

The United States has imposed sanctions on two individuals linked with the Taliban and the haqqani network, the US Department of Treasury has said.

Pakistan's support for haqqani network has increased through both facilitating additional sanctuary and providing strategic and operational guidance, a top US think tank has said.

The United States has urged Pakistan to ensure that intelligence information does not go to the haqqani network and take steps against it.

Jalaluddin Haqqani, head of the dreaded "haqqani network" which is behind some of the deadliest attacks against Indian interests in Afghanistan, has been dead for over a year, militant sources said on Friday.

Pakistan-based haqqani network is a deadly terrorist outfit, which is responsible for more than 90 per cent of the civilian casualties in eastern part of Afghanistan, a top US military official based in this part of the war-torn country believes.

The US Senate has unanimously passed a resolution urging the Obama administration to designate the dreaded haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organisation.

The US is reviewing whether to designate the entire haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organisation, even as it has already slapped sanctions against seven of its top leaders, including Badruddin Haqqani who was designated as a global terrorist.

The threat from terror groups, particularly haqqani network, continues to emanate from Pakistan, the US has said, dismissing Pakistani National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz's remarks that the dreaded Afghanistan-based outfit has been almost wiped out from the country.

The US on Tuesday slapped sanctions on Sangeen Zadran, a commander of the Pakistan-based haqqani network and designated him as a foreign terrorist.

The United States today expressed "frustration" with Pakistan on its unwillingness to take head on the haqqani network, a issue which a top Pentagon commander acknowledged is one of the points of friction with Islamabad.

Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik has contended that the US should share the blame for the rise of the haqqani network as the CIA created the Taliban faction during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and trained its members.

The US on Tuesday designated a top Pakistan-based haqqani network commander, Mali Khan, as a foreign terrorist and slapped financial sanctions against him, aimed at crippling the finances to the dreaded outfit.

Ramping up the pressure on Obama Administration to designate the haqqani network as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has passed a bill through voice vote.

US defence secretary Jim Mattis has said that his refusal to give certification to Congress that Pakistan was taking action against the haqqani network is not a reflection of a new tougher policy against Islamabad, but simply an assessment of the current state of play.

Hillary Clinton announced a raft of new aid projects worth $500 million on Monday, even as Washington raised pressure on Pakistan to tackle the feared haqqani network.

Pakistan needs to target the haqqani network and not the press, a top American senator who was instrumental in blocking the sale of F-16 fighter jets to the country, said on Wednesday after Islamabad detained a journalist for writing an article criticising the powerful army.

Acting against Pakistan-based haqqani network of Taliban, the Obama administration has slapped financial sanctions on Nasiruddin Haqqani, a brother of dreaded warlord Sirajudin Haqqani, and two other top militant commanders for their support to terror groups in Afghanistan.

The US has said that it will continue to press Islamabad to "squeeze" haqqani network, as Afghanistan blamed the Pak-based group for the latest attacks in Kabul.

In the strongest warning so far to Pakistan, US on Thursday said it is reaching the limits of its patience with Islamabad for allowing terrorist safe havens, specially the dreaded haqqani network.

haqqani network leader Nasiruddin Haqqani, the eldest son of warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, was killed by gunmen riding a motorcycle when he was returning home from a mosque late Sunday night in Barakahu area, leaders of the group said.

India is a factor in both cases, especially in view of improved India-US understandings on these two principal issues on which the US has until now led the international discourse.

The US has asked Pakistan to target all militant groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, after release of a state department cable which suggested strong links between the notorious spy agency ISI and the haqqani network.

US President Barack Obama has signed into law an act requiring the secretary of state to determine whether the haqqani network meets legal criteria to be designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

The haqqani network, which has a stronghold in Afghanistan, has been responsible for several terror attacks. The group was blamed for the 2008 bomb attack on the Indian mission in Kabul, which killed 58 people.

Last week, Mullen triggered a storm in Pakistan by his statement that haqqani network was a "veritable arm" of the ISI, which evoked sharp reaction from Islamabad.