US hands over 'most wanted terrorists' list to Pakistan
Islamabad, May 28ANI: The United States has handed over a 'most wanted terrorists' list to Pakistan, expecting it to provide intelligence about them immediately and possibly target them in joint operations, according to a US official and a Pakistani official. Slain Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's deputy Ayman al Zawahiri and Taliban commander Mullah Omar are named in the list of five militant Islamic leaders, ABC News reports. The list also includes Siraj Haqqani- the operational commander of the Haqqani network, believed to be running out of Pakistani tribal areas, Ilyas Kashmiri- a senior member of al Qaeda, once dubbed "the next Osama bin Laden", and Atiya Abdel Rahman- the Libyan operations chief of al Qaeda who had emerged as a key intermediary between bin Laden and al Qaeda's affiliate networks across the world. The list was discussed during three separate meetings between senior Pakistani and US officials in the past two weeks, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's meeting in Islamabad on Friday, according to a US official, a Pakistani government official and a Pakistani intelligence official. The United States views the list as a test of whether Pakistan is serious about fighting terrorists who have long enjoyed safe havens within its borders, according to the report. But the list does not only include militants the US wants Pakistan to target, said the report, adding that in the case of Omar, America is interested in determining whether he can be part of political reconciliation in Afghanistan, and is pushing the Pakistanis to facilitate such an outcome, according to two US officials. The US has already opened a dialogue with a man believed to be an emissary of Mullah Omar, according to two senior Afghan officials, but is proceeding cautiously. According to the report, Afghan and American officials believe that Pakistan's premier intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence ISI, maintains influence over the Haqqani network and can help target it or convince it to open a political dialogue. ANI
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