Pakistan Must Act Decisively against Lashkar-e-Tayyiba

Lisa Curtis / December 09, 2009

A recent alleged terrorist plot that was cracked here in the U.S. shows that the Pakistan-based terrorist group the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) is closely connected to al-Qaeda and is part of a global terrorist syndicate that threatens not only India, but also Western democracies in general. In October, U.S. authorities in Chicago arrested David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani-American businessman, for conspiring with LeT in Pakistan to conduct attacks in India and for plotting an attack on the Danish newspaper that first published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed that led to rioting throughout the Muslim world in 2005.

Headley had apparently traveled frequently to Pakistan, where he received terrorist training from the LeT. He is also accused of conducting surveillance on targets in Mumbai before the terrorist attacks there in November 2008 that killed nearly 170 people, including six Americans.

Despite proof of LeT involvement in the Mumbai attacks, the U.S. has up to now failed to prioritize the goal of pressing Pakistan to take serious action against the group. As recently as six months ago, some senior U.S. officials refused to recognize that the LeT also posed a threat to U.S. interests. These officials viewed the LeT solely through the Indo-Pakistani lens and asserted that it was more important for the U.S. to use its leverage with Pakistan to go after al-Qaeda rather than a group whose primary focus was attacking India. (more…)