Pak has links with LeT, but US cannot snap ties, says Panetta

The US on Tuesday acknowledged that its ally Pakistan keeps ties with anti-India terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba, but said Washington had no choice but to maintain its relations with Islamabad if it has to fight al-Qaeda in the region.

In possibly the first such hard-hitting statement on Pakistani establishment’s links with terror networks by the top Pentagon official, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said the US is concerned by this and such issues make ties with Islamabad complicated.

We’re concerned with… the relationships that Pakistan has, what makes this complicated, is that they have relationships with the Haqqanis, and the Haqqani tribe are going across the border and attacking our forces in Afghanistan, he said.

He further went on to acknowledge that Pakistan continues to have ties with the LeT which has targeted India on more than one occasion. There’s a relationship with LeT. And, you know, this is a group that goes into India and threatens attacks there, it has conducted attacks there, Panetta said in response to a question at National Defence University.

India has long blamed Pakistan for supporting anti-India terror groups, including the LeT which orchestrated the 2008 Mumbai attacks. However, Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said that it was not possible to cut off relationship with Pakistan as the country was crucial in fighting al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.