US must confront Lashkar with same force as Al-Qaeda: Curtis

Washington, Mar.12 : Lisa Curtis, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation has said the Obama Administration must develop policies that approach the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) with the same urgency as that shown towards Al-Qaeda.

Testifying before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, Curtis said American Government have shied away from pressuring Pakistan on the LeT in the past to garner Islamabad's support against targets they believed were more critical to the country's interests.

Arguing during the discussion titled: "Bad Company: Lashkar-e-Taiba and the growing ambition of Islamist militancy in Pakistan", Curtis said there is ample proof that the LeT has close links with Al-Qaeda and shares the same 'virulent anti-west Islamist ideology', so, it makes little sense to believe one can dismantle Al-Qaeda without also shutting down the operations of the LeT.

To degrade the overall international terrorist threat emanating from Pakistan, the U.S. must convince Islamabad to confront those groups it has supported against India, she stressed.

Curtis underlined that merely banning the extremist organisation would not serve any purpose, and that the US must closely monitor Pakistani actions to dismantle the LeT.

"The U.S. in collaboration with other allies must increase pressure on Pakistan to take specific steps like denying the LeT leaders the ability to hold public rallies, collect donations, and engage in paramilitary training on Pakistani territory," she said.

Curtis also noted that Washington must avoid conveying message that is more interested in some terrorist groups than others, which would then encourage the Pakistani leadership to avoid addressing the issue of confronting the LeT.