The United States was talking “frankly” to Pakistan to take more action to prosecute the masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai attacks since the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was as lethal as the Taliban and the al-Qaeda, U.S. Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke told journalists here on Thursday.
Mr. Holbrooke felt the “few steps” taken by Islamabad in this direction were “not enough.”
Referring to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence's links with militant organisations, he asserted that tackling the LeT was “equal to any other priority in the region,” as its goal was to create “maximum problems” between India and Pakistan.
“Their [LeT, al Qaeda and Taliban] long-term objective is to destroy the Western civilisation and to create crisis between New Delhi and Islamabad,” he said when asked about the American perception of these radical groups.
“Under intense pressure, these groups seem to be growing closer to each other. Two or three years ago, they were more distinct than now,” he said corroborating the remarks by National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon earlier this week.
In an interview to a TV channel, Mr. Holbrooke ruled out any role in the Afghan peace process for the Haqqani network, which India holds responsible for attacks on its Kabul Embassy and the training given to militants headed for Kashmir.
