‘Pakistan did not take substantial action against the Afghan Taliban’ or Haqqani Network: State Department

Table of US Foreign Assistance to Pakistan from the US Department of State’s Country Reports on Terrorism 2015.

The US Department of State said “Pakistan did not take substantial action against the Afghan Taliban or HQN [Haqqani Network]” and has done little to deter home-grown jihadist groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. The US government continues to provide nearly $800 million in financial aid despite Pakistan’s historical and continuing support for jihadist groups that are actively fighting US troops in Afghanistan and plotting terrorist attacks across the globe.

The Department of State noted Pakistan’s unwillingness to deal with its preferred jihadist groups in the newly released Country Reports on Terrorism 2015.

“Afghanistan, in particular, continued to experience aggressive and coordinated attacks by the Afghan Taliban, including the Haqqani Network (HQN), and other insurgent and terrorist groups,” the State report says. “A number of these attacks were planned and launched from safe havens in Pakistan.”

After noting the military and government target jihadist groups such as the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan that continue to launch deadly attacks against the state and civilian institutions, State says that Pakistan has done little to deal with jihadist groups fighting in Afghanistan.

“Pakistan did not take substantial action against the Afghan Taliban or HQN, or substantially limit their ability to threaten US interests in Afghanistan,” State notes.

“Pakistan has also not taken sufficient action against other externally-focused groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), which continued to operate, train, organize, and fundraise in Pakistan,” State continues.

Additionally, while Pakistan “reportedly banned media coverage of US- and UN-designated terrorist organizations such as Jamaat-u-Dawa (JuD) and the Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FiF), both of which are aliases of Lashkar-e-Taiba … the government did not otherwise constrain those groups’ fundraising activities.”

Hafiz Saeed, the leader of LeT/JuD/FiF, who is also a UN-designated terrorist “was able to make frequent public appearances in support of the organization’s objectives,” without Pakistan raising a finger to stop him.

Also, State points out the “slow pace of trial proceedings” for the accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, which was plotted and executed from Pakistan. Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Lashkar-e-Taiba’s operational planner of the deadly Mumbai assault, has been freed from detention.

“Lakhvi was released from prison on bail in April 2015 and the Government of Pakistan reports he remained under house arrest at the end of 2015,” State reports. However, Pakistan has placed other terrorist leaders, such as Hafiz Saeed, under house arrest in the past, but this has done nothing to constrain their activities.

Despite State’s criticism of Pakistan, the department said the country “remained a critical counterterrorism partner in 2015.”

Additionally, State says that Pakistan continues to receive large sums of “Foreign Assistance.” While the amount of aid has decreased over the past three years, US continues to give Pakistan hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Pakistan received $1.237 billion in total foreign assistance in 2013 (including $280 million in military aid), $853 million in 2014 ($270 million in military aid), and $787 million in 2015 ($265 million in military aid).

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

Tags: Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Pakistan, Taliban