By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington: In a crackdown on terrorists operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the US has designated the commander of a Pakistan-based insurgent group as a terrorist and banned Americans from doing business with him.
The State and Treasury departments said Wednesday that they had added Badruddin Haqqani to their list of “specially designated global terrorists”, a step that will freeze any assets he may have in US jurisdictions.
Badruddin Haqqani is the senior military commander of the Haqqani group and a son of the group’s founder, Jalaluddin Haqqani, who had previously been designated as a terrorist by the US.
The Taliban-affiliated group operates from North Waziristan, a tribal area in Pakistan, and conducts attacks on US troops in Afghanistan, the State Department said.
The step will help stem the flow of financial assistance to a dangerous individual, it said.
The United Nations has also added Badruddin Haqqani to its list of Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists, a step that requires all UN member states to implement an assets freeze, a travel ban, and an arms embargo against him.
Badruddin Haqqani took responsibility in November 2008 for the kidnapping of New York Times reporter David Rohde. The reporter escaped in June 2009.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])