Rice Satisfied with Pakistan's Anti-Terror Stance

Via AP -

Pakistan's leaders know what's at stake after the terror attack in Mumbai and have acknowledged their duty to evict terrorists and prevent future attacks, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday.

"I found a Pakistani government that is focused on the threat and that understands its responsibilities to respond to terrorism and extremism wherever it is found," Rice said following sessions with the country's powerful army chief and civilian leaders.

The U.S. wants broader sharing of intelligence and a commitment by Pakistan to root out terror groups that have found a comfortable haven in the Muslim country. To stress that message and heighten pressure on Pakistan's new civilian government, the administration sent both Rice and its top military officer to seek Pakistani aid in uncovering the origins of the Mumbai attack that India blames on Pakistani militants.

Rice was in Pakistan for only a few hours after expressing U.S. condolences in India for more than 170 deaths in Mumbai. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen met a day earlier with key Pakistani leaders.

The Americans carried a message both blunt and subtle: There's no denying the Pakistani fingerprints in the coordinated attack on India's financial capital Mumbai, and the terrorist threat could just as easily be turned inward.

"There is a lot of information about what happened," Rice told reporters at the conclusion of her visit, "a lot of information."

Her emphasis on the word "lot" left little doubt that there is a rich intelligence trail. U.S. officials have said the same thing the Indians are saying, that the trail leads to terror groups based entirely or partly in Pakistan.

"That information needs to be used now to get the perpetrators and prevent them from doing this again," Rice said.

Evidence collected in probes so far has pointed to two members of outlawed Pakistani group Lashkar-e-Taiba as masterminds in the attacks, according to two Indian government officials familiar with the matter.

The men are believed to be in Pakistan, the officials said.

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Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET), a Pakistani-based Islamic terrorist organization, seeks to drive out Indian security forces from the disputed Jammu and Kashmir regions of South Asia and establish an Islamic caliphate. LET, which was also inspired by Osama bin Laden, continues to maintain close ties with Al Qaeda. Intelligence services have discovered that, before its camps were destroyed by the United States in 2001, Al Qaeda frequently hosted and trained LET operatives. Conversely, since the destruction of those camps, LET has hosted Al Qaeda trainees and other Islamic militants, including Shahzad Tanweer, one of the suicide bombers in the July 7, 2005 London Underground attack, according to British authorities. Additionally, senior Al Qaeda leaders, such as Abu Zubeida have been arrested at LET compounds.

More information about LET...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3181925.stm
http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/lashkar.htm
http://www.cfr.org/publication/17882/