Afghan Taliban, Haqqani Network continue to find safe haven in Pakistan: US report

Terror groups such as the Haqqani Network and the Afghan Taliban continued to find ‘safe haven’ in Pakistan in 2013, the State Department has said.

The claim was made by the Department in its annual global report on terrorism that it submitted to the Congress on Wednesday.

In the report, the Department also accused Pakistani authorities of not taking ‘significant military or law enforcement action against these groups,’ the Express Tribune reports.

The report further claimed that a number of aggressive and coordinated attacks in Afghanistan were planned and launched from safe havens in Pakistan.

According to the report, al Qaeda’s core group in Afghanistan and Pakistan has been ‘seriously degraded’, but its global leadership still operates from safe haven in the region.

The report claimed that action was not taken against other groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which continues to operate, train and fundraise in Pakistan in 2013.

It added that Afghanistan continued to experience aggressive and coordinated attacks by the Afghan Taliban, HQN, and other insurgent and terrorist groups.

The report also said that India remained severely affected by and vulnerable to terrorism, from Pakistan-based groups and their affiliates as well as left-wing violent extremists, the paper added. (ANI)