NEW YORK—A day after Faisal Shahzad, the man allegedly behind the Times Square bombing, pleaded guilty on 10 terror charges, four U.S. senators pointed out that the group that allegedly funded and trained him, the Pakistani Taliban, is still not on the official list of terrorist groups, Sen. Schumer said.
New York Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand on Tuesday said that the U.S. State Department has 45 groups on its terrorist watch list but doesn’t include the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban. The group allegedly dropped off $12,000 to Shahzad and trained him in making and using explosives to aid in his terror plot, the FBI said.
“Even as Shahzad pled guilty, he vowed that he and others from the Pakistani Taliban would be back to carry out more attacks on the U.S. We cannot wait any longer to go after this group with everything we’ve got,” said Schumer.
Shahzad, 30, loaded up his Nissan Pathfinder with several propane tanks, gasoline canisters, fertilizer, and fireworks then drove the vehicle into Times Square on May 1 to set off the explosive device, which ultimately failed.
Along with Schumer and Gillibrand, New Jersey Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez are introducing legislation to place the Pakistani Taliban on the terrorist list.
“This organization poses an existential threat to the safety of not only our soldiers fighting abroad, but also Americans here at home,” Schumer noted. “It’s time we dealt them with every tool at our disposal.”
Shahzad, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, allegedly was trained by the Taliban in 2009 while he was visiting Pakistan. The group then funneled $5,000 and $7,000 in cash to the Bridgeport, Conn. resident, the FBI said.
Of the 45 groups on the terror list, al-Qaeda, Hamas, and the Real Irish Republican Army are on the list. In order to qualify for the list, the organization must be foreign, engage in terrorist activity, and threaten the security of U.S. citizens or the national security of the country, the senators noted.
With these criteria in mind, the coalition of senators said that the Pakistani Taliban qualifies to be on the list because they had a hand in the Times Square bombing attempt as well as in the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007. The group has also joined forces with al-Qaeda in several instances, the senators said.
“The Times Square incident is by no means the first time that the TTP has tried to kill innocent people,” said Sen. Gillibrand. “This group has been implicated in domestic terrorism in Pakistan for years.”
New York Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand on Tuesday said that the U.S. State Department has 45 groups on its terrorist watch list but doesn’t include the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban. The group allegedly dropped off $12,000 to Shahzad and trained him in making and using explosives to aid in his terror plot, the FBI said.
“Even as Shahzad pled guilty, he vowed that he and others from the Pakistani Taliban would be back to carry out more attacks on the U.S. We cannot wait any longer to go after this group with everything we’ve got,” said Schumer.
Shahzad, 30, loaded up his Nissan Pathfinder with several propane tanks, gasoline canisters, fertilizer, and fireworks then drove the vehicle into Times Square on May 1 to set off the explosive device, which ultimately failed.
Along with Schumer and Gillibrand, New Jersey Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez are introducing legislation to place the Pakistani Taliban on the terrorist list.
“This organization poses an existential threat to the safety of not only our soldiers fighting abroad, but also Americans here at home,” Schumer noted. “It’s time we dealt them with every tool at our disposal.”
Shahzad, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, allegedly was trained by the Taliban in 2009 while he was visiting Pakistan. The group then funneled $5,000 and $7,000 in cash to the Bridgeport, Conn. resident, the FBI said.
Of the 45 groups on the terror list, al-Qaeda, Hamas, and the Real Irish Republican Army are on the list. In order to qualify for the list, the organization must be foreign, engage in terrorist activity, and threaten the security of U.S. citizens or the national security of the country, the senators noted.
With these criteria in mind, the coalition of senators said that the Pakistani Taliban qualifies to be on the list because they had a hand in the Times Square bombing attempt as well as in the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007. The group has also joined forces with al-Qaeda in several instances, the senators said.
“The Times Square incident is by no means the first time that the TTP has tried to kill innocent people,” said Sen. Gillibrand. “This group has been implicated in domestic terrorism in Pakistan for years.”
