Apr 10, 2012
Posted by Amit Kumar, Ph.D.
In recent years, the attention, resources, and
efforts of the US counterterrorism community
have largely been focused on the threat from
Al-Qaida and its affiliates, namely the
Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, and the
Taliban. During this time frame, the South
Asian affiliate of the Al-Qaida as well as that
of the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Tayibba (LeT) has
largely escaped the radar of the US. This piece
focuses on the ever rising and continuing
threat from Lashkar-e-Tayibba and outlines the
steps that the US must urgently take to
mitigate this threat.
The Origins of
Lashkar-e-Tayyiba
LeT originated as the militant wing of
Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad, a fundamentalist
Sunni Pakistani missionary organization that
was established in the 1980s to oppose the
Soviet occupation in Afghanistan. In the early
1990s the militant wing of the Markaz came into
existence as the LeT. Since 1993, LeT has
conducted numerous terrorist attacks against
Indian soldiers and civilians alike,
culminating in the Mumbai attacks of 2008.
Change in the
Motives of LeT: Expanding beyond India towards
the US and the West
LeT is mistakenly perceived as primarily
anti-Indian organization that espouses only the
separatist movement in the state of Kashmir in
India. But its activities have been directed at
critical assets and persons throughout India.
In recent years, LeT has established its
presence in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Maldives,
giving it the status of a South Asian terrorist
group. Through ex-filtration and infiltration
of its cadres into and from India through Nepal
and Bangladesh as well recruiting Indian
nationals, Nepalese, Bangladeshis, and
nationals of Maldivian origin to its cadres and
cause, LeT has tried to shed the image of being
an organization comprised of Pakistani
nationals. For example, the Indian Mujahideen
(IM) is an Indian offshoot of LeT, whose cadres
have been trained and indoctrinated by LeT
operatives in Pakistan.
In recent years, the LeT activities and focus
have been extended to the United States and its
nationals. During the 2008 Mumbai attacks the
Lashkar terrorists targeted and killed American
nationals at the Chabad House in Mumbai.
Another instance of LeT's foray into the US is
the case of Virginia resident Jubair Ahmed
admitting to providing material support to LeT
last year. US citizen Dennis Headley and
Chicago resident Tahawwur Rana, both of
Pakistani origin, were arrested on charges of
their involvement in Lashkar activities
facilitating the Mumbai attacks, as well as
hatching a terrorist plot in Denmark. While
Headley plea bargained, Tahawwur Rana was
absolved of any involvement in the Mumbai
attacks; he was indicted for his involvement in
the LeT-hatched murder plot of a Danish
cartoonist who had drawn caricatures of Prophet
Muhammad.
LeT has actively worked with the Taliban and
Al-Qaida by participating in and providing
logistical support for anti-US operations in
Afghanistan as well. From offering shelter to
Al-Qaida operative Abu Zubaydah to training
Taliban and Al-Qaida cadres to providing foot
soldiers for joint operations with the Haqqani
Network that resulted in attacks against
Indians and Americans alike in Afghanistan, LeT
has become a close ally of the Al-Qaida-Taliban
combine. And in this process it has directed
its ire and firepower directly at the United
States.
Measures
Undertaken against the LeT threat
Unfortunately, the actions undertaken to
mitigate the threat from LeT have been rather
inadequate at best. LeT operative
Zakir-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind of the
Mumbai attacks is imprisoned in a Pakistani
jail and apparently continues to direct the
organization's terrorist activities from within
prison. Pakistan banned the LeT in 2002 but
under the guise of its charitable arm, the
Jamaat-ud-Dawaah (JuD), it continues to operate
unabated and unchallenged. It is notable that
by way of its charitable work through JuD, LeT
has ingratiated itself with the Pakistani
people—a fact that increases the challenge of
decimating this organization. Despite India's
furnishing of evidence to Pakistan detailing
Lakhvi's involvement in the Mumbai attacks,
Pakistan has taken no action against Lakhvi.
The founder of LeT and JuD, Hafeez Saeed openly
spouts venom against India and the United
States. In the US, the absolution of Headley
and Tahawwur Rana from any involvement in the
Mumbai attacks has helped create the impression
of the lack of an appetite to tackle the LeT
threat decisively. US and UN designation of
LeT, JuD, and LeT operatives including Hafeez
Saeed and Lakhvi have not resulted in any
diminution of the threat from LeT or these
individuals, or even created any dent in the
organization's finances. The LeT infrastructure
remains largely intact. The US State Department
has however in the past week sent a strong
message that it is now cognizant of the threat
to the US from LeT by announcing a ten million
dollar bounty for the arrest and capture of
Hafeez Saeed. Saeed's mockery of this US action
shows the practical difficulties associated
with taking on LeT in its stronghold in
Pakistan, where it prospers under the
protection and encouragement of the Pakistani
military and political establishment. Recent
unconfirmed reports of Indian and US Special
Forces jointly working in India, Nepal,
Maldives, and other South Asian states to
neutralize the LeT threat are a heartening sign
of some headway being made to take on the LeT,
to the common benefit of both India and the US.
Quite alarmingly however, nothing really has
been done to choke off the financial flows that
fund the LeT.
Measures that may be undertaken to mitigate the
LeT threat
While the bounty placed on LeT chief Hafeez
Saeed is a good but late start to demonstrate
US action against the LeT threat, the US needs
to take much stronger measures against the LeT.
Through a process of intensive dialogue and by
threatening the discontinuation of US aid to
Pakistan if the Pakistani Government fails to
accede to US demands in this regard, the US
should pressurize the Pakistani government to
act more decisively against the LeT cadres,
including dismantling the training activities
of LeT on Pakistani soil. In addition, the US
should convince the Pakistanis to accede to
Indian demands to hand over Lakhvi and other
perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to Indian
authorities. US intervention in this case is
critical since the Mumbai attacks resulted in
the death of American citizens as well. The US
should work with Pakistan and Gulf States where
LeT gets most of its finances through
charitable means and rich contributors, to stem
the flow of funds to LeT by means of
implementing sanctions measures, and by
attacking the critical nodes of LeT finance
through tangible action by law enforcement. The
US may like to direct the regime at the United
Nations that monitors the implementation of
sanctions against Al-Qaida and Taliban to
provide actual figures of LeT assets and assets
of listed LeT officials that have been frozen
by countries where LeT is based and is active.
The US may also like to ask this regime to
submit a report on the efficacy of sanctions
measures in taming the threat posed by LeT, as
well as recommendations to mitigate this
threat. The US should continue to work with
India to share information of mutual concern on
the activities of LeT in both countries in a
timely manner and to participate in joint
counter terrorism operations to take out LeT
cadres. Unilateral measures by the US to take
out LeT targets might also not be ruled out at
some stage.
Conclusion
It's amply clear that the threat to the US and
its allies from LeT is growing and is yet
untamed. Nothing substantial has been done to
effectively curtail the finances and operations
of LeT, by Pakistan or even globally. It is
about time that the US deploys its
counterterrorist assets against this untamed
threat from LeT. The international community
led by the US should actively engage Pakistan
and use all possible means to convince this
country to help check the unabated growth of
LeT organizationally and logistically. It must
be underscored that the US faces an ever
greater threat from LeT, as LeT is the one
organization that has the capacity to fill the
void created by the diminution of Al-Qaida, and
to lead the global jihad against the United
States. Let's not forget that LeT is a close
affiliate of Al-Qaida and is infused with
similar ideological zeal. It's more dangerous
now than Al-Qaida is, with ever greater
resources, a growing reach and presence, and
its unhindered and unchecked terrorist
activities.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Center for National Policy.
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