WASHINGTON – A top US general expressed concern to Congress on Tuesday about the expanding reach of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, warning it was no longer solely focused on India or even South Asia. LeT regarded as one of the largest and best-funded Islamic militant organisations in the region, is blamed for the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people in India’s commercial capital. The group is said to be nurtured by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency to fight India in Kashmir, and analysts say it is still unofficially tolerated even though Islamabad banned the group nearly a decade ago.
Admiral Robert Willard, head of the US military’s Pacific Command, told a Senate hearing the United States was actively working with South Asian governments including Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and India to contain LeT. But he cautioned that the group was active elsewhere. “Unquestionably they have spread their influence internationally and are no longer solely focused in South Asia and on India,” Willard told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
