From allies to America’s Afghan nemesis

Today,American intelligence and military officials call the crime clan known as the Haqqani network — led by a wizened militant named Jalaluddin Haqqani who has allied himself over the years with the CIA,Saudi Arabia’s spy service and Osama bin Laden — the most deadly insurgent group in Afghanistan. In the latest of a series of ever bolder strikes,the group staged a daylong assault on the US Embassy in Kabul,an attack Adm Mike Mullen,chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,charged Thursday was aided by Pakistan’s military spy agency,ISI. According to two American officials,cellphones used by the attackers made calls to suspected ISI operatives before the attack,although top Pakistani officials deny their government played any role.

But even as the Americans pledge revenge against the Haqqanis,and even amid a new debate in the Obama administration about how to blunt the group’s power,there is a growing belief that it could be too late. To many frustrated officials,they represent a missed opportunity with haunting consequences. Responsible for hundreds of American deaths,the Haqqanis probably will outlast US troops and command large swaths of territory in Afghanistan once the shooting stops.

American military officers,who have spent years urging Washington to take action against the Haqqanis,express anger that the Obama administration has still not put the group on the State Department’s list of terrorist organisations out of concern that such a move would scuttle any chances that the group might make peace with Afghanistan’s government. “Whoever is in power in Kabul will have to make a deal with the Haqqanis,” said Marc Sageman,a former CIA officer who served in Pakistan during the Soviet-Afghan war. “It won’t be us. We’re going to leave,and those guys know it.”

When their threat was less urgent,the Haqqanis — estimated at 5,000 to 15,000 fighters — were not a top priority for the US. But even then the US also had little leverage against them. The Haqqanis have expanded their reach as top US officials have tried repeatedly over the last decade to berate and cajole officials in Pakistan to cut ties to a group it considers essential for its own security,all with little effect.

Now largely run by two of Haqqani’s sons,who experts say are even more committed Islamists than their father,the network is in a position of strength as the America tries to broker a peace deal in Afghanistan before pulling its troops. One former American intelligence official,who worked with the Haqqani family in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s,said he would not be surprised if the US again found itself relying on the clan. “You always said about them,‘best friend,worst enemy.’”SHANE and ALISSA J RUBIN