New Delhi: The Pakistani Haqqani network, which was convicted for the terror attack on Sikhs in Kabul in March last year, has spoken to form a new joint team with terror outfit al-Qaeda. The US Treasury Department has disclosed this. In evaluating its work to combat terror financing and money laundering, the US Treasury Department has also disclosed that even after signing an agreement with the US in February last year, the Afghan Taliban with al-Qaeda has increased.
The Haqqani network was described as part of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency on behalf of Admiral Mike Mullen, former chief of the US staff. It was convicted with Lashkar-e-Taiba for the attack on a Sikh shrine in Kabul last year. 30 people were killed.
In January, the U.S. Treasury Department submitted some papers to the Pentagon, saying, “Senior Haqqani network data has talked about the formation of a new joint unit of armed fighters cooperated and funded by al-Qaeda.” However, no other information has been given.
The Haqqani Network has often been accused of targeting Indian interests in Afghanistan. Some reports have suggested the attack on the Sikhs in March last year was carried out after the terrorists were unable to target the Indian embassy in Kabul.
The document described the Haqqani Network as an organisation primarily based in North Waziristan, Pakistan that conducts cross-border operations into eastern Afghanistan and Kabul.
In May last year, Afghan security forces had arrested eight members of a network grouping the Haqqani Network and the Islamic State in Kabul for the attack on the Sikhs. The National Directorate of Security or the Afghan spy agency had said at the time that the group was also responsible for attacking a gathering of the Shia Hazara minority, and rocket attacks on President Ashraf Ghani’s swearing-in ceremony and on Bagram airbase.
The treasury department also said that, during the past year, al-Qaeda was gaining strength in Afghanistan while continuing to operate with the Taliban under the Taliban’s protection.The assessment assumes significance in light of the new US administration’s decision to review the deal with the Taliban to establish whether the Afghan group has cut its ties with al-Qaeda and other terror groups and is taking steps to reduce violence.