Key US Senator says Haqqani should be on terror list

The US Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein pressed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to add the militant Haqqani network to a formal terrorism blacklist, citing recent attacks in Afghanistan.I request that the State Department take the additional step of listing the network as a Foreign Terrorism Organization and look forward to receiving your response, said Dianne Feinstein.Feinstein, a Democrat, said there is no question that the Haqqani network meets the standards for joining the list.It conducts attacks against US targets and personnel in Afghanistan, and poses a continuing threat to American, Afghan, and allied personnel and interests, she said in a statement.Her comments came after the top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, charged that the Haqqani network acts as a veritable arm of Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence agency.Washington blames Haqqani militants for an assault on the US embassy in Kabul last week, a June attack on the Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, and a bloody September 10 truck bombing in Afghanistans Wardak province.The Haqqani network is probably the most dangerous faction in the Afghan Taliban. A CIA asset turned Al Qaeda ally, the United States in the 1980s funneled arms and cash to the Haqqani faction to counter Soviet forces.