U.S. Government Brings Charges Against Tehrik-e-Taliban

The U.S. government has made several related moves that now allows it go after the Pakistani Taliban with meat and muscle. The U.S. Department of Justice has charged Hakimullah Mesud, the alleged leader of the Tehrik e-Taliban with conspiracy to murder  7 C.I.A officers.  Using a Jordanian physician as a double-agent the Tehrik-e-Taliban were able to put into gear one of the most daring political assassinations in the history of the CIA.  There is now  a $5 million bounty on Hakimullah Mehsud, the young leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban.

U.S. officials have also blamed the Tehrik-e-Taliban for engineering the failed car bombing in Manhattan’s Times Square by Faisal Shahzad.

Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesperson said:

“These charges are part of a multipronged U.S. government effort to disrupt and dismantle Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan. It is our intention to hold Mehsud accountable for his actions and we will work with our partners in the intelligence community, the military and law enforcement, as well as our counterparts overseas, to achieve that objective.”

Further the State Department put the Tehrik-e-Taliban on its terrorism list.  This will allow the U.S. Justice Department and Treasury Department to freeze the Taliban’s assets.  More importantly perhaps, this move allows the U.S. government to seek redress in through the Pakistani government against an indigenous Pakistani association found to stand against American laws.

P.J. Crowley, a spokesperson for the State Department published a statement:

“The various actions taken today against TTP support the U.S. effort to degrade the capabilities of this group. We are determined to eliminate TTP’s ability to carry out terrorist attacks and to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat their networks.”

Note that the language used in describe the Tehrik-e-Taliban mirrors exactly the language used to describe Al-Qaeda and U.S. policy against that malevolent group.  This declaration suggests that going forward the same tactics will be used to pursue both the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan.

Given today’s coordinated suicide attacks, against a procession of Shia worshippers this move could not have come soon enough.  Even though the Taliban have yet to claim responsibility for the vicious attacks, analysts and government officials widely believe that the Tehrik-e-Taliban are, in fact, responsible since they have a history of plotting attacks against Shia Muslims.

It remains to see whether the U.S. government’s moves are just talk to leverage the Taliban to a settled peace or whether this will turn out to be a manhunt for the leaders and high ranking soldiers of the Pakistani Taliban.