Haqqanis are terrorists – US

Published on 08/09/2012 00:00

The United States has formally designated the Pakistan-based Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist group.

Secretary of state Hillary Clinton signed a report to Congress saying the group “meets the statutory criteria for designation as a foreign terrorist organisation”.

Congress had given Mrs Clinton a deadline of tomorrow to deliver a report on whether the Haqqanis should be designated and all of its members subjected to financial sanctions.

The US had already placed sanctions on many Haqqani leaders and is targeting its members militarily, but Washington had held back from formally designating the al-Qaeda-linked network a terrorist group, amid fears about hampering peace efforts in Afghanistan and American relations with Pakistan.