Pakistan may use LeT for proxy war in Kashmir: US report

For the past two decades LeT the group behind the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 166 people has steadily emerged as one of Pakistan39s most lethal and capable militant proxy groups according to the study Titled quotThe Fighters of LashkareTaiba Recruitment Training Deployment and Deathquot the 61page report by the Combating Terrorism Centre at the US Military Academy in West Point New York is primarily focused on LeT and its integration into Pakistani society Once the primary battleground for jihad in South Asia quotover the last decade the fight in Kashmir just hasn39t been as relevant for jihadist actorsquot with US and international troops in Afghanistan providing quota visible and seductive targetquot for militant groups it said It was difficult to predict the directional priorities of Pakistanbased militant groups after the US reduces its role in Afghanistan especially in light of the internal security challenges faced by Pakistan and the state39s own shifting threat priorities the report said But quothistorical precedent suggests that some of these militant groups will reorient to and invest more broadly in the conflict in Kashmirquot said the study quotThe series of skirmishes between Pakistani and Indian forces along the Line of Control in Kashmir in January have brought the potential for renewed conflict in Kashmir into sharp reliefquot said the report wondering quotwhether this incident was isolated or a harbinger of more violence to comequot between the two neighbours quotShould elements of Pakistan39s security establishment view it in their interest to spoil peace or reignite conflict in the region they will likely turn to trusted Pakistani militant groups such as LashkareTaiba LeT to do their biddingquot the report warned This could be due quotpotentially to serve as a release valve for domestic challenges or to redirect the actions of militants actively waging war against Islamabadquot it said quotWhile the group has historically been used by Islamabad as an agent of regional foreign policy a steady array of incidents tied to the group over the last decade strongly suggest that LeT39s interests are evolving and that its operations in the future might be less constrainedquot the report said The Mumbai terrorist attacks left quotsome to question whether Mumbai was an outlier or a sign of a broader strategic or ideological shift taking place within the group with more similar international attacks to comequot the report said Western counterterrorism investigators have been particularly troubled by LeT39s recent attack history its links to several international terror plots the group39s transnational footprint the accessibility of its infrastructure in Pakistan and the twodecadelong spillover associated with its training camps it said The group39s active recruitment of US and European citizens and the discovery of a number of LeT operatives and cells based in both places the report said quothave led some researchers to conclude that a threat to the US homeland by this organization or an associated splinter group or LeTtrained element can no longer be ruled outquot quotEven if this is not the case and the group maintains a more limited operational focus on Kashmir and India in the years to come its attack on Mumbai raises the spectre that future attacks orchestrated by the group in that region may be more hybrid in nature or international in flavourhelping LeT to draw world media attention to its causequot the report concluded The Pakistan government insists that Pakistanis are not engaging in acts of terrorism in India or elsewhere But the West Point report suggests that quotwhile few entertain these claims as credible our database indicates that this claim is falsequot u00a0