A top U.S. general expressed concern to Congress on Tuesday about the expanding reach of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, warning it was no longer solely focused on South Asia.
LeT, one of the largest and best-funded Islamic militant organizations in the region.
The group was nurtured by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency, and analysts say it is still unofficially tolerated even though Islamabad banned the group nearly a decade ago.
The pakistan Army continues to pursue its policy of training, nurturing & supporting global terrorist outfits, even as it continues to accept billions of dollars in aid each year from the United States to defeat these very terrorist outfits. As a result these outfits have found in pakistan, a safe shelter & refuge. Every attack carried out by Islamic terrorists has invariably been traced back to pakistan & has unearthed pakistan Army connections. Yet, inexplicably, the world, or rather its leaders, continues to turn a blind eye to this perfidy by the pakistan Army, even as scores of American & European soldiers in Afghanistan die each week and lies of the people in West are threatened by the diabolical policies of the pakistan Army.
Admiral Robert Willard, head of the U.S. military's Pacific Command, told a Senate hearing the United States was actively working with South Asian governments including Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and India to contain LeT.
But he cautioned that the group was active elsewhere.
"Unquestionably they have spread their influence internationally and are no longer solely focused in South Asia," Willard told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The United States has evidence of LeT's presence in Europe and the broader Asia-Pacific region, he said.
In the past, LeT has fielded militants in Canada and in the United States.
LeT group has declared holy war against the United States and renewed longstanding concerns in Washington about attacks by LeT militants against U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
There has been increasing attention in Washington on LeT, particularly since the arrest of Pakistani-American David Headley in 2009.
Headley had joined LeT and helped al Qaeda plan a strike in Denmark.
LeT, one of the largest and best-funded Islamic militant organizations in the region.
The group was nurtured by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency, and analysts say it is still unofficially tolerated even though Islamabad banned the group nearly a decade ago.
The pakistan Army continues to pursue its policy of training, nurturing & supporting global terrorist outfits, even as it continues to accept billions of dollars in aid each year from the United States to defeat these very terrorist outfits. As a result these outfits have found in pakistan, a safe shelter & refuge. Every attack carried out by Islamic terrorists has invariably been traced back to pakistan & has unearthed pakistan Army connections. Yet, inexplicably, the world, or rather its leaders, continues to turn a blind eye to this perfidy by the pakistan Army, even as scores of American & European soldiers in Afghanistan die each week and lies of the people in West are threatened by the diabolical policies of the pakistan Army.
Admiral Robert Willard, head of the U.S. military's Pacific Command, told a Senate hearing the United States was actively working with South Asian governments including Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and India to contain LeT.
But he cautioned that the group was active elsewhere.
"Unquestionably they have spread their influence internationally and are no longer solely focused in South Asia," Willard told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The United States has evidence of LeT's presence in Europe and the broader Asia-Pacific region, he said.
In the past, LeT has fielded militants in Canada and in the United States.
LeT group has declared holy war against the United States and renewed longstanding concerns in Washington about attacks by LeT militants against U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
There has been increasing attention in Washington on LeT, particularly since the arrest of Pakistani-American David Headley in 2009.
Headley had joined LeT and helped al Qaeda plan a strike in Denmark.
