ANALYSIS - How dangerous is Lashkar-e-Taiba to the west?

By Myra MacDonald

LONDON (Reuters) - Should the west be worrying as much about Lashkar-e-Taiba as al Qaeda?

The group blamed for last year's attacks on Mumbai has a formidable training and logistics infrastructure, and a global network of sympathisers used to raise funds for its Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) charitable wing.

That makes it a danger not just to India -- which is demanding action against the Laskhar-e-Taiba (LeT) as the price for resuming peace talks with Pakistan -- but also a potential threat to the west given its strong base and global reach.

"Al Qaeda does not command those kinds of resources any more," said Praveen Swami at Indian newspaper the Hindu.

Based in Pakistan's heartland Punjab province, the group was once nurtured by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to fight India in Kashmir.

But a rare decision to target westerners and Jews along with Indians in the Mumbai attacks has added to worries the group might eventually turn its sights on the west.

"The attitude of the United States towards the LeT is quite different from what it was before," said Kamran Bokhari, Middle East director for global intelligence company Stratfor.

Analysts who have studied the LeT say, however, that the group remains very much focused on India and Kashmir.