Updated on
Summary
Senior US officials used an urgent meeting with Pakistan's president to present a dossier on terrorism suspect Faisal Shahzad, including a detailed chart describing his contacts with the Pakistani Taliban before his attempt to detonate an explosives-laden vehicle in New York City's Times Square, officials said.The evidence was part of an emphatic American message warning that there would be inevitable pressure on the United States to take action if there was an attack traceable to Pakistan that resulted in US casualties, officials said. The warning was delivered last week in a visit to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, by White House National Security Advisor James L. Jones and CIA Director Leon E. Panetta, who said Pakistan needed to intensify its crackdown against the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban, or TTP, and other militant groups. Originally, officials in Islamabad denied that the Pakistani Taliban, a militant group based in the country's tribal regions, was involved in the May 1 bombing attempt. But in the days since Jones and Panetta met with President Asif Ali Zardari and other leaders, Pakistani officials have begun to acknowledge that the group provided support to Shahzad. The Taliban initially claimed responsibility for the attempted attack, though it later backed away from the claim and denied even knowing Shahzad. US officials have been convinced that the TTP, after primarily focusing on attacks against the Pakistani government, is increasingly seeking ways to strike US targets. The group has formed closer links with Al Qaeda and has seemed to adopt the terrorist network's goal of striking the US on its own territory.The evidence, which included photographs of militants suspected of assisting Shahzad, was shown to Zardari and Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, the army chief of staff, along with other Pakistani officials, US officials said. Jones and Panetta were attempting to convince the Pakistanis that the U.S. had hard evidence that Shahzad had received support from the Pakistani Taliban, the officials said. The chart, which was assembled by U.S. intelligence agencies, showed who all he had contacts with, one official said, and drew clear links between Faisal Shahzad and the TTP leaders in Pakistan.
