The U.S. Bounty on Lashkar-e-Taiba

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In The Media

The U.S. Bounty on Lashkar-e-Taiba

The recent U.S. decision to place a ten million dollar bounty on Lashkar-e-Taiba's founder may be designed to pressure Pakistan, but it risks leading to more tension in the U.S.-Pakistani relationship.

By Stephen Tankel

Published on Apr 3, 2012

Source: BBC World News

Speaking on BBC World Report, Carnegie's Stephen Tankel discussed some of the repercussions behind the recent U.S. decision to place a ten million dollar bounty on the head of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, founder of the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. He argued that the timing of the decision was either intended to \place pressure on the Pakistani government or it was the culmination of a long bureaucratic process. Either way, Tankel said, it does not necessarily bode well for the U.S.-Pakistani relationship. He also explained that Lashkar-e-Taiba might not have high favorability ratings among ordinary Pakistanis, but it has penetrated certain pockets of civil society and is unusally powerful as a result.

About the Author

Stephen Tankel

Former Nonresident Scholar, South Asia Program

Tankel was a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment, where his research focuses on insurgency, terrorism, and the evolution of nonstate armed groups.

Recent Work

Q&A
Restoring Trust: U.S.-Pakistan Relations
- Stephen Tankel
Q&A
LeT’s Global Rise
- Stephen Tankel

Security Foreign Policy South Asia Pakistan

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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