“There’s been hardly any mention of the extremist group’s deep ties to American-based jihadists.” By Noah Shachtman for the Danger Room, December 10 (thanks to all who sent this in):
A growing chorus of intelligence officials in the U.S. and in south Asia have pinned the Mumbai attacks on the Kashmir-based militants Lashkar-e-Taiba. But there’s been hardly any mention of the extremist group’s deep ties to American-based jihadists.
Since 2003, at least five U.S. citizens have been convicted in federal court of conspiring to provide material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba. At least nine more men, considered to be in the same larger circle, have been convicted of firearms violations and other felonies. (A partial list is here.) Several other cases are still making their way through the legal process.
Islamic extremists in America have used Lashkar-e-Taiba (“LeT”) as a “stepping stone” into the broader world of global terror, says Evan Kohlmann, a senior investigator at the NEFA Foundation. With easy-to-access training facilities, English-speaking recruiters, and connections to militants around the world, a Lashkar camp is “the best way for emerging jihadist to get trained.”…
Read it all.