A senior US senator urged Pakistan on Sunday to crack down on the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, which operates on both sides of the country's border with Afghanistan.It's only controlled and manned from one side, though.
Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said he does not think the Haqqani network would ever make peace, and he vowed to push to include the group on the US terrorist blacklist.
They're not on the list now? That sounds like a massive oversight.
The senator praised Pakistan for its help in fighting terrorism and for taking on other militants such as the Pakistani Taliban, but he said the country's reluctance to push into the North Waziristan area run by the Haqqanis is hurting the war effort in Afghanistan.
Sometimes you just have to walk away from your sunk costs.
"They are not following through, and have not followed through, by going after one of the truly great threats that face us here in Afghanistan, which is the coming into Afghanistan from Pakistan of Haqqani fighters," the Democrat from Michigan told reporters in Kabul at the end of his two-day visit.
How's that Strategic Depth thing working, anyway?
The Haqqani network, which mainly focuses on attacking targets in Afghanistan, is suspected of maintaining ties with Pakistan's powerful military intelligence agency.
It's connected on the left side with ISI and the Afghan Talibs, on the right side with al-Qaeda and with the Pak Talibs.
The Pakistani government has denied news reports that it has reached out to the Haqqani network to secure its participation in talks with the Afghan government.