Washington:
Acting against Pakistan-based Haqqani network of Taliban, the US has slapped financial sanctions on Nasiruddin Haqqani, a brother of the dreaded warlord Sirajudin Haqqani, and two other top militant commanders for their support to terror groups in Afghanistan.
Besides Nasiruddin, the sanctions announced by the US Department of Treasury also targeted Gul Agha Ishakzai, a top aide of Taliban's chief Mullah Omar and Amir Abdullah, former treasurer to the senior Taliban leader Mullah Baradar.
The move could be a big setback to Pakistan army which has been cozying up to President Hamid Karzai to involve the Haqqani faction in the proposed new set-up in Afghanistan, post-US and NATO withdrawal from the country.
The three key leaders and financiers for the Taliban and its affiliated group, the Haqqani network, have been slapped with sanctions "for supporting acts of terrorism and for acting for or on behalf of the Taliban or the Haqqani network," the Treasury Department said in a statement.
The Haqqani network is a Taliban-affiliated group of militants that operates out of safe havens in North Waziristan tribal region in Pakistan and has been spearheading insurgent activity in war-torn Afghanistan.
The Treasury Department's step under Executive Order 13224 will freeze the assets of these militants, ban their travel and trigger an arms embargo.
The action comes after a senior Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee called for sanctions against the Haqqani network.
Together with US sanctions, the new action prohibits any financial transaction of these terror leaders in the member countries of the UN, which is likely to put pressure on Pakistan to initiate an operation against the group.
"The sanctions placed on the three leaders as terrorists would deprive them of the assets they need to fund the terror operations," said Adam Szubin, Director, Office of Foreign Assets Control.
"We will continue to aggressively work to expose and dismantle the financial networks of terrorist groups in support of the President's goal of a stable Afghanistan," Szubin said.
"Today's designees were added to the United Nations 1267 Consolidated List on July 19, 2010 for being associated with Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden or the Taliban," the Treasury Department said.
US officials have been pressing Pakistan to crack down on the Haqqani network, saying that Islamabad's reluctance to move into the group's base in North Waziristan is hampering the Afghan war effort.