LeT harbours ambitions beyond India: Adm Mullen

WASHINGTON: Lashkar-e-Taiba, which so far had focused primarily on India, is having global aspirations and has spread its tentacles beyond Pakistan and Afghanistan, as manifested by the David Headley case, a top US general has said.

"Generally, LeT was east, focused on India. They're now in the west. Actually, they're not just in the west, focused on Pakistan. There are LeT elements focused on Afghanistan," Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said.

"We've seen in our own country, recently — with Detroit, with Times Square, with Headley, with Zazi — we've seen an increasing level of distributed threats, if you will, and an ability to expand this federated approach which al-Qaida has had. And al-Qaida is at the centre of this and al-Qaida leadership resides in Pakistan."

Mullen said he has been raising this concern of his with Pakistan in every meeting he has with their leaders. "If I go back even a couple years, when I first started going to Pakistan on a regular basis, it's an area that I've raised with the military leadership there from day one."