The United States is keeping up pressure on the Pakistain-linked Haqqani network, a US official said Wednesday, just days ahead of a congressional deadline on whether to designate it a terrorist group."We've been pretty clear for a long time... that the US policy is to put pressure on the Haqqani network," acting US State Department deputy front man Patrick Ventrell told journalists.
"That includes both the sanctions we have already disclosed, but also military pressure as well."
US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton... sometimes described as
The Heroine of Tuzlaand at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as
Another Elihu Root...
has said she will meet an obligation to decide by Sunday whether the Haqqani network should be considered terrorists.
US politicians have pressed her to blacklist the group, but some US officials have warned such a move could further fray already fragile ties with Pakistain.
US officials have linked the Haqqani network to some of the boldest attacks in Afghanistan including a June assault on a hotel near Kabul that killed 18 people and a siege last year of the US embassy.
Clinton last week declined comment on which way she is leaning, but said the United States was already "putting steady pressure" on the Haqqani network.
"That is part of what our military does every single day along with our ISAF partners," she said, referring to the NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
-led force in Afghanistan.
"We are drying up their resources, we are targeting their military and intelligence personnel, we are pressing the Paks to step up their own efforts," she said during a visit to the Cook Islands.