Haqqani network challenges US-Pakistan relations

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Source: Associated Press

ISLAMABAD – The bodies kept surfacing — hanged, shot, beheaded — and always with a note alleging the victims were anti-Taliban spies. "Learn a lesson from the fate of this man," warned one message found on a corpse in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region.

A senior Pakistani intelligence official told The Associated Press that at least 30 of his agency's operatives have been killed over the past year in the region partly controlled by the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani network. The autonomous Afghan Taliban faction — whose leader was once a U.S. ally — is a serious threat to American and NATO troops in Afghanistan's east and operates on both sides of the border with Pakistan.

The U.S. wants Pakistan to expel the network from its North Waziristan sanctuary, especially as 30,000 more U.S. troops head to Afghanistan. But Pakistani officials say taking on the network now is too risky; the killings have helped turn North Waziristan into an intelligence black hole at a time when Pakistan's army is stretched thin fighting insurgents elsewhere.

Some critics suspect Pakistan is simply making excuses because it wants to use the Haqqanis as a future asset to influence Afghanistan and stay ahead of its bigger regional rival, India, after the Americans withdraw. Others say Pakistan is wise to avoid antagonizing a group whose primary focus remains Afghanistan.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091229/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_handling_the_haqqanis