Just days before a congressional deadline, the Obama administration is deeply divided over whether to designate the Pakistan-based Haqqani network as a terrorist group, with some officials worried that doing so could complicate efforts to restart peace talks with the Taliban and undermine already-fraught relations with Pakistan.

In early August, Congress gave Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton 30 days to determine whether the Haqqani group, considered the most lethal opponent of US forces in Afghanistan, meets the criteria for designation -- a foreign organization engaging in terrorist activity that threatens US citizens or national security.

If she says it does not, Clinton must explain her rationale in a report that is due to Congress on Sept. 9. Acknowledgment that the group meets the criteria, however, would probably force the administration to take action, which is strongly advocated by the military but has been resisted by the White House and some in the State Department.

Senior officials have repeatedly called the Haqqani network the most significant threat to the US goal of exiting a relatively peaceful Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and have accused Pakistan of direct support for its leadership. The network has conducted a series of lethal, high-profile attacks against US targets.

In recent weeks, the military has reiterated its call for Pakistan to prove its counterterrorism commitment by attacking Haqqani sanctuaries in its North Waziristan tribal area. The CIA has escalated drone attacks on Haqqani targets, including a strike last week that administration officials said killed the son of the network’s founder and its third-ranking official.

But just as there are reasons to designate the network a terrorist group, there are several factors weighing against the move, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the administration’s closed-door deliberations.

Those factors include a tenuous rapprochement with Pakistan that led in early July to the reopening of vital US military supply lines into Afghanistan; hopes that the autumn end of this year’s Afghan fighting season will bring the Taliban back to the negotiating table after the suspension of talks in March; and a reconfigured US offer on a prisoner exchange that could lead to the release of the only US service member being held by the militants.

After a White House meeting last week in which President Obama’s top national security advisers aired divergent views, Clinton is said to remain undecided as aides prepare a list of options. She has avoided taking action on the issue since assuring lawmakers late last year that she was undertaking a “final” review.

US commanders in Afghanistan have long argued that labeling the Haqqani group a Foreign Terrorist Organization -- a relatively short list of about four dozen entities that does not include the Taliban -- is one of the most important steps the administration could take to win the war.

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Editor's Note: Two points. 1) To enter into "peace negotiations" with a foe means you have come to grips with a reality that you are willing to co-exist with that foes in mutual respect. The Haqqani network is Taliban, the people who harbored al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, and who directly facilitated the attacks of September 11, 2001. Are we willing to let them declare victory over us regarding the September 11, 2001 attacks? 2) It is impossible -- impossible to negotiate with a faction that practices al taqiyya, or, purposeful deception. To do so is to be idiotic. Read more about al taqiyya here.


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