WASHINGTON: The new National Strategy for Counter-terrorism released by the White House in Washington has identified two Pakistan-based terrorist groups – Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – along with Boko Haram as a potential threat to the United States.
In addition to ISIS and Al Qaeda, dozens of other terror groups are working to advance more locally focused terrorist campaigns, while still posing a threat to people from the United States and the country’s interests overseas, said the National Strategy for Counter-terrorism, released by the White House on Thursday.
“These groups, including Boko Haram, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, and Lashkar-e-Taiba, employ a range of political and terrorist tactics to undermine local governments and conduct attacks,” it said.
According to the strategy, these organisations will probably prioritise regional goals over attacks against the homeland or United States interests because of resource constraints or political considerations.
“However, many of these groups are hostile to the United States, maintain networks of sympathizers around the world, and retain ties to ISIS or al-Qaeda, underscoring their potential threat to United States interests,” said the strategy.
Prominent terrorist organisations, particularly ISIS and Al Qaeda, have repeatedly demonstrated the intent and capability to attack the homeland and United States interests and continue to plot new attacks and inspire susceptible people to commit acts of violence inside the United States, it said.
“These groups stoke and exploit weak governance, conflict, instability, and longstanding political and religious grievances to pursue their goal of eliminating Western influence in majority Muslim countries and remaking Islamic society,” the strategy said.
“Radical Islamist terrorist groups have developed and used methods that have challenged The United States counter-terrorism efforts, including establishing state-like governing institutions within their safe havens, deploying sophisticated explosive devices to defeat aviation security measures, and using high-quality media products to recruit extremists in the West,” it said.
“Future radical Islamist terrorists and other terrorists will continually adapt these and other tactics to their circumstances and the technological advances of the age. It is, therefore, critical that the United States counter-terrorism posture be agile enough to adapt as well,” said the strategy.
“Radical Islamist terrorists have a violent extremist ideology that serves to create a common identity and sense of purpose for those susceptible to its core message,” it alleged.
