The Obama administration has formally designated the Pakistan-based Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization, U.S. officials said Friday, in a complicated political decision as the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan and pushes for a reconciliation pact to end more than a decade of warfare.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signed a report to Congress on Friday morning just before leaving Brunei for regional meetings in Russia. The report states that the Pakistan-based Haqqani network “meets the statutory criteria for designation as a foreign terrorist organization,” said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because congressional notifications were still going on.
Enraged by a string of high-profile attacks on U.S. and NATO troops, Congress gave Clinton a Sunday deadline to deliver a report on whether the Haqqanis should be designated and all of its members subjected to U.S. financial sanctions. Clinton’s decision comes amid numerous disagreements within the administration about the utility of the designation.
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