EDITS | Friday, November 6, 2009 | Email | Print | 
Lashkar in America
The Pioneer Edit Desk
US must re-strategise war on terror
The arrest of two Lashkar-e-Tayyeba operatives — Tahawwur Hussain Rana and David Coleman Headley — in the US is telling in more ways than one. First, despite the best efforts of the US administration to seal off America to terrorists, the incident has proved that loopholes still exist in US homeland security. It is true that the American intelligence machinery was able to apprehend Rana and Headley before they could do any harm. But as Rana’s advice to another LeT operative on how to smuggle people into the US — evidence which is being used against him in a court of law — suggests, jihadis can still infiltrate America. Although it will be uncharitable to criticise the American authorities for allowing Rana and Headley to operate from the US for so long — the Lashkar men’s arrest has provided India with valuable insight on how the National Defence College in New Delhi could have been the target of a terror attack — the episode should force the Obama Administration to re-evaluate its war on terrorism. There can be no denying that Pakistan and Pakistan-based terrorist organisations are central to global jihad. Unless this source of terrorism is effectively neutralised, the war on terror will be futile.
Rana and Headley’s interrogation has once again proved that organisations like the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and its ilk continue to operate with impunity from Pakistan. This, despite repeated assurances by Islamabad that it was moving to dismantle all terror groups operating from its soil. It is also equally clear that US funding of Pakistan’s anti-terror operations is achieving zilch. Not only is there reason to believe that the money is not being used for the purpose intended, there is also a strong possibility that it is being siphoned off to strengthen the terror infrastructure. Yet Washington, DC, believes that its perseverance will eventually bear fruit. This is the reason why it recently sanctioned billions of dollars in civilian and military aid even though Islamabad made it clear that it would not accept any riders. The result is there for all to see. Even though Islamabad has been making a show of moving against the Taliban and other affiliated terrorist organisations that are responsible for the present spate of terrorist attacks in Pakistan, it has done little to crack down on organisations like the LeT or the Jaish-e-Mohammad. This distinction between ‘good’ jihadiand ‘bad’ jihadiexposes Islamabad’s reluctance to stop using terrorism as an instrument of state policy to keep Afghanistan destabilised and India on its toes. Unless the US addresses this fundamental issue, Pakistan will remain the epicentre of international terrorism. This time Rana and Headley’s nefarious designs were stubbed out before they could be implemented. Next time the world might not be so lucky.
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