What is Lashkar-e-Taiba?

Lashkar-e-Taiba sounds like the name of a perky, South Asian ice-dancing duo.

“Taiba’s triple lutz was the crowd pleaser, but it was Lashkar’s flawless camel spin that really wowed the judges.”

But don’t let the cute moniker fool you. Lashkar-e-Taiba is a terrorist group headquartered in Pakistan. It’s a very, very, (very!) dangerous organization.

Audience shouts: “How dangerous is it?”

It’s soooo dangerous, when she steps on a talking scale, the scale says “ouch.”

I’m sorry. That’s how fat your mama is.

Lashkar-e-Taiba is soooo dangerous, it very nearly started a nuclear war. In December 2001, LeT attacked India’s parliament in New Delhi. The assault left 12 dead and 22 injured.Naturally, India was furious. LeT operated freely and openly in Pakistan. India warned Pakistan: If you don’t crack down on LeT, we will.

To show it was serious, India ordered a massive troop build-up along its border with Pakistan. By mid-2002, India had roughly 700,000 troops – and nuclear weapons – ready to hit Pakistan. In response, Pakistan pointed 300,000 troops – and its own nuclear arsenal – at India.

It’s the closest the world has come to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis. The two countries didn’t back away from their ledges until autumn 2002 – when weather would have made an all-out war difficult anyway.

War between India and Pakistan is not a hypothetical worry. The two countries have fought three major wars since their independence, as well as several smaller ones. The main point of contention between them is the state of Kashmir.

India and Pakistan were created in 1947, when the former British colony was divided into two nations: one majority Hindu (India), the other majority Muslim (Pakistan). Although Kashmir’s population was majority Muslim, its Hindu leader chose to join India. Pakistan’s leaders believe Kashmir belongs in Pakistan.

As we discussed two paragraphs ago, the two countries have fought several wars over Kashmir. Additionally, Pakistan fosters guerilla and terror groups who target India. The most (in)famous of these groups is LeT. Since it’s formation in 1993, LeT has claimed credit for several attacks in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, as well as the rest of India.

After the Indian parliament attacks, Pakistan’s government cracked down on LeT a bit. But not much. Pakistan banned LeT, so the group changed its name to Jamaat-ud-Dawah and carried on as usual. J-j-j-jamaat on the one!

One thing did change though. Under its new name, LeT expanded its social and charitable work. When the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir was hit with a devastating earthquake in 2005, LeT’s charitable operations got aid to remote Kashmiri villages ignored by Pakistan’s hapless government. LeT is therefore appreciated by many people, with good reason.

But it’s still a terrorist group. In fact, recent evidence suggests this month’s terrorist assault on Mumbai was planned in LeT camps in Pakistan.

To head-off another potential nuclear war with India, Pakistan cracked down on LeT harder this time – raiding training camps and arresting several of its leaders. So far, however, there’s no indication Pakistan will mount a sustained effort to thwart LeT. LeT still has backing within Pakistan’s military and intelligence establishments. And the raid on LeT’s camps may have been little more than a PR exercise.

Even if it really wanted to, it’s not clear that Pakistan’s government is actually capable of stopping LeT on its own. A secret U.N. Security Council report leaked to McClatchy newspapers says LeT already has gone global.

The terrorist group has fundraising operations in Saudi Arabia and Europe, and fighters in Iraq and the Caucasus. U.S. counterterrorism officials reportedly are worried that LeT is developing a global terrorism business plan with al-Qaeda.

A LeT alliance with al-Qaeda would explain the timing of the Mumbai attacks. Pakistan recently stepped up its anti-Taliban, anti-al-Qaeda operations along its border with Afghanistan. By goading India into threatening to strike Pakistan, the Mumbai attack forced Pakistan’s military to turn away from al-Qaeda and towards India. In the end, the Mumbai attack may have nothing more than a clever, deadly diversion to help al-Qaeda.