WASHINGTON - When Times Square suspect Faisal Shahzad last traveled to Pakistan, he was looking for help from the Pakistani Taliban in carrying out a bomb attack, a senior administration official said Monday.

"The question is: Did he go there looking for help or did he fall in their lap? It seems the former. It appears he went seeking help for this attack," the official said. "He had an attack in mind when he went there."

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because this person wasn't allowed to speak publicly about the investigation.

Top advisers to President Obama said Sunday Shahzad worked with the Taliban movement in Pakistan.

"The evidence that we have now developed shows the Pakistani Taliban directed this plot, " Attorney General Eric Holder said on NBC's "Meet the Press," describing the ongoing investigation into suspect Shahzad's actions.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Monday the Pakistani Taliban "provided him with material support that obviously helped him execute the attack."

John Brennan, the assistant to the president for counterterrorism and homeland security, told CNN's "State of the Union" that the Pakistani Taliban -- also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban, or TTP -- is "closely allied with al Qaeda."

The group has pledged to carry out attacks on other parts of the world, including the United States, Brennan said Sunday.
Video: Shahzad linked to Taliban, official says

Shahzad was arrested while trying to fly out of New York last Monday night, two days after federal authorities say he left a vehicle filled with explosive materials in Manhattan's Times Square. The makeshift bomb failed to detonate, preventing what could have been a deadly attack on one of the nation's busiest areas.

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