29 sept 2011
US blacklists Haqqani financier, LeT men
One of the five is Abdul Aziz Abbasin who is alleged to be a key commander of the network headed by Sirajuddin Haqqani. They are alleged to have used millions of dollars for terrorist activities. Four other facilitators and financiers belonging to Taliban and Al-Qaeda and based in Pakistan have also been blacklisted.
The move comes as Washington prepares the legal and constitutional grounds to declare the Haqqani group a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO). That would place severe financial restrictions as well as let the US take action against its citizens or anyone in America facilitating the network.
“We are in the final formal review that has to be undertaken to make a government-wide decision to designate the network as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters at a joint press availability with visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr on Thursday.