Well Wolf, you know, the pro-political pressure here in the United States has been building to put the Haqqani network on that list of terrorist organizations, but what really could put force behind the argument is a violent action by the group itself.

 

Violent attacks in Afghanistan, American blood spill. Haqqani operatives planned and conducted that truck bomb attack as well as the assault on our empathy. Now, US official tell CNN, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is on the verge of designating the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network as a foreign terrorist organization. One official says, I think you will likely see action fairly soon."The step is long overdue." 

 

Behind the scenes, US officials tell CNN, the decision has been debated for months. The Treasury Department already has targeted individual members of the terrorist group for sanctions, freezing their assets. Publicly, the State Department said the secretary has been pushing Pakistan to break its links with the Haqqani Network. "We have made absolutely clearly that the Haqqani network is job one that we want to do it together, and that's the conversation that we are having now."

 

Some in the military, they say, push throught that terrorist designation. But others in the administration argued, it could hurt efforts that splitting the Haqqanis from al Qaeda, a process called reconciliation, even push the Haqqanis away from a possible peace deal. But says one expert, few in the adminitration now have much hope for any reconciliation.

 

"Every indication suggests that Haqqani Network is getting more extreme, not less extreme, and that it's not the case that they are mostly affiliated with the Taliban, and maybe a little bit affiliated with others, but that they are affiliated with which ever radical element is most active at the time." 

 

What's more, some officials tell CNN economic sanctions could do little to a network that  has almost no assets in the US. Another concern, potential damage to the already strain US relationship with Pakistan which American officials have accused of supporting the Haqqani Network. 

 

Now put it individuals and not organizations on that terrorism list accually has been done before. In fact one official pointed out that the Taliban themselves are not on the list of foreign terrorist organizations, although individuals who are members of the Taliban are on the State Department list of designated terrorists, Wolf?

 

Joe, if the US does designate the Haqqani Network as a terrorist organization, and the Pakistani government, its Intelligence Agency continues to cooperate and support the Haqqani Network. Will that automatically force the Obama administration to separate that 2 billion a year aid package to Pakistan?

 

You know, it could have repercussions because absolutely when, you know, that's one of the difficulties in holding some of these up. This decision, is that the repercussions of making that determination that they are a terrorist organization would lead you to say that the ISA is supporting, which could lead you to that step and it chould be a radical and important step.