US to designate Pakistan's Haqqani network a terrorist organization

The United States will designate the Pakistan-based Haqqani network a foreign terrorist organization, which will freeze its property in the US and ban contributions to it, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday in a statement, DPA reported.

The militant group is known for terrorist attacks inside Afghanistan against both Afghan and NATO forces, including the attacks upon the US embassy and NATO military headquarters in Kabul in September 2011.

Clinton has been under pressure from Congress to determine whether the Haqqani group meets all of the legal criteria as a terrorist group. She said Friday she had notified Congress of her "intent" to issue the terrorist designation under both a law passed by Congress and an executive order issued by the White House.

Some individuals in the network, such as a top leader of the network recently killed by a US drone strike, have already been designated as terrorists. Friday's move expands that designation to the entire organization.

Clinton said the designation is part of overall US strategy in Afghanistan to increase Afghan security forces' ability to fight insurgents.

"We also continue our robust campaign of diplomatic, military and intelligence pressure on the network, demonstrating the United States' resolve to degrade the organization's ability to execute violent attacks," Clinton said.

In August, Badruddin Haqqani was killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan's lawless tribal area of North Waziristan, along the Afghan border - a stronghold of Haqqani and other al-Qaeda-linked groups.

The killing was considered a major blow to the militant outfit. Badruddin was a key leader in the network, in charge of day-to-day operational affairs and part of the core group which planned attacks.