The extremists who hit Mumbai are poised to strike again
By Adnan R. Khan and Michael Petrou - Wednesday, December 2, 2009 - 13 Comments
Lashkar-e-Taiba now has global ambitions
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen and immigration consultant living in Chicago, is at the centre of terrorism investigations in India and the United States that link him to plots in Europe and America—and to the massacre in Mumbai one year ago that killed more than 160 people. Rana, who co-owns a house in Ottawa where he frequently visits, is currently charged in Chicago for allegedly planning an attack against the Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. But according to Indian reports citing government sources, he is also suspected of playing a role in the Mumbai attacks, perhaps even scouting targets in the days before the massacre.
It is widely believed that the assault on Mumbai was carried out by the Pakistani Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Rana’s co-accused, a Pakistani-American who changed his name from Daood Gilani to David Headley in 2006, told American police he trained with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Pakistan, where he allegedly met with al-Qaeda affiliate Ilyas Kashmiri to plan foreign operations. Court papers allege that Rana, who attended military school with Headley in Pakistan, also used email to discuss with an LeT operative how the group might smuggle members of the group into the United States.
These allegations, if proven true, are significant for what they tell as about the LeT’s growing international reach, and its current strength. The group that once confined its terrorist aspirations to South Asia appears to be branching out to Europe and even North America. Lashkar-e-Taiba can afford to stretch its horizons. Only one year after bringing so much death and destruction to Mumbai, the group is thriving. Its base in Pakistan is secure. And the Pakistani government, which knows all about Lashkar’s power and its evolving ambitions, is unwilling—or unable—to do anything about it.
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"You don't plan operations like this in some safe house."
By Michael Petrou - Friday, November 28, 2008 at 2:40 PM - 2 Comments
This afternoon, the World Desk spoke with Bruce Hoffman, a professor of security studies at Georgetown University who has studied terrorism and insurgencies for more than three decades. He was formerly a scholar-in-residence at the Central Intelligence Agency, advised the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, and has recently returned from Pakistan. I have written briefly about Hoffman in a previous post. I consider him an insightful source.
While cautioning that it’s still too early to draw firm conclusions about the identity of the attackers, Hoffman says the sophistication of the attacks, which required high levels of training, manpower, and logistical coordination, points to “outside planning.” The terrorists assaulted several targets simultaneously; they took and kept hostages; and they carried enough weapons and ammunition to fight for several days. Pulling this off would have required planning and practice.
“It’s not like planting a bomb,” he said. “You don’t plan operations like this in some safe house.”
Hoffman confirmed that links between Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency and local Islamist terror groups are “very close,” but noted that this doesn’t mean the ISI played a role, or even knew about, the Mumbai attacks. “It could mean that far down the road in the past, these groups got the training they needed from the ISI,” he said.
The Pakistani government, through the ISI spy agency, was behind the creation of several of South Asia’s most violent Islamist militant groups, including the Taliban in Afghanistan and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Kashmir. But the Pakistani government doesn’t necessarily control the ISI, and the ISI doesn’t necessarily control its guerilla offspring. There’s a lesson here about not sowing the wind, but it’s a little late for Pakistan to learn it now. The entire country is at risk of being torn apart by the same brand of Islamist terror that was almost certainly behind the atrocities in Mumbai.
Bruce Hoffman says he believes Pakistan’s new president, Asif Ali Zardari, is sincere in his belief to advance peace between India and Pakistan and cooperate against the Islamist militants who threaten both countries. Terrorists assassinated Zardari’s wife, Benazir Bhutto, so his motivations might be personal. He may also be enough of a realist to recognize he doesn’t have much choice.
