Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Pakistani State

摘要

Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT) is the most lethal terrorist group operating from South Asia. Founded in 1989 in Afghanistan with help from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), it began operations in India in 1990. Until November 2008, US policymakers tended to dismiss LeT as India's problem, despite the fact that the group had been attacking US troops and their inter-national and Afghan allies in Afghanistan.1 On 26 November 2008, however, LeT made its debut as an international terrorist organisation when it launched a four-day siege of India's port city of Mumbai. In that attack, 166 people perished, including several Americans and Israelis. This was the first time that LeT had targeted non-Indian dvilians. Recent revelations that David Coleman Headley, an American citizen of Pakistani origin, conspired with LeT (and, allegedly, a Pakistani army major deputed to the ISI) to launch the Mumbai offensive have stoked fears about American home-grown terror-ism and the ability of LeT to attack the US homeland.2 Headley's ties to an al-Qaeda leader, Ilyas Kashmiri, have furthered speculation about LeTs ties to al-Qaeda.3 Rightly or wrongly, some American officials believe it is only a matter of time before LeT will launch an attack on US soil