WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday notified Congress of her intent to brand the Pakistan-based Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization.
"Today, I have sent a report to Congress saying that the Haqqani network meets the statutory criteria of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) for designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)," the top U.S. diplomat said in a statement.
"Based on that assessment, I notified Congress of my intent to designate the Haqqani Network as an FTO under the INA," said Clinton, who is now in Russia's Vladivostok for the annual Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. "I also intend to designate the organization as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity under Executive Order 13224."
By taking the move, Clinton met a deadline set by Congress to make a decision on whether to blacklist the group by Sunday.
The decision was made based on the U.S. overall strategy in Afghanistan, which consists of five elements, namely the Afghan capacity to fight insurgents; transition of security duty; building a partnership with Afghanistan; pursuing Afghan-led reconciliation; and putting together an international consensus, according to Clinton's statement.
Following the designations, the U.S. government prohibits providing support to or engaging in transactions with the Haqqani network. The group's assets under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen.
Washington has targeted key members of the group for sanctions, linking it to some deadly attacks on U.S. and NATO-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.
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