The Foreign Office reacted to a bill introduced in the US Senate on Wednesday (29 September), according to which sanctions are being put against Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban, which remained in the forefront of the US-led fight in Afghanistan, were deemed “unwarranted.”
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Pakistan’s interior minister, denied that Pakistan had supplied military support to the Afghan Taliban.
The Foreign Office’s and Interior Minister’s reactions came a day after 22 Republican senators in the United States introduced a bill seeking sanctions on the Taliban while also calling for an investigation into Pakistan’s suspected role in helping the rebel group since 2001.
The ‘‘Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability Act of 2021,” a 57-page draught bill, included multiple allusions to Pakistan.
According to the draft bill, “An assessment of support by state and non-state actors, including the Government of Pakistan for the Taliban between 2001 and 2020, including the provision of sanctuary space, financial support, intelligence support, logistics, and medical support, training, equipping, and tactical, operational, or strategic direction.”
The Republican senators also requested that the Biden administration evaluate Pakistan’s role in helping the Taliban offensive in Panjshir Valley.
Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said in a statement, “We see that a debate is underway in Washington both in the media and on Capitol Hill to reflect on and examine the circumstances leading to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. The draft legislation introduced in the US Senate by a group of Senate Republicans seems to be a reaction to this debate.”
Additionally, the foreign office said that “The legislation includes references to Pakistan that are completely unwarranted.”
All such references, according to the statement, are incompatible with the spirit of Pakistan-US collaboration on Afghanistan since 2001, including facilitation of the Afghan peace process and recent evacuations of Americans and other people from the country.
Bill moved in US Senate to sanction Taliban and its supporters
Pakistan has always stated that there is no military solution to the Afghan crisis, according to the report. Similarly, coercion will not work, and engagement and conversation are the only ways to establish long-term, sustainable peace in Afghanistan.
The statement said “sustained security cooperation between Pakistan and the United States would remain critical in dealing with any future terrorist threat in the region. Such proposed legislative measures are, therefore, uncalled for and counterproductive.”
Sheikh Rashid while addressing a ceremony in Islamabad said, “The US is accusing us that we facilitated the Taliban, but we only facilitated them to bring them to the table at the request of the US.”
The comment came a day after the US Senate tabled a measure attempting to impose penalties on the Afghan Taliban, which could potentially extend to Pakistan. Shireen Mazari, the Human Rights Minister, slammed the bill.
Sheikh Rashid stated that Pakistan wished for the international community to engage with the Taliban for peace to reign in the neighboring country. He said, “We are standing with the world and we want the world to stand with Afghanistan in this difficult situation.”
The ruling Democratic Party and Republicans currently have 50 senators each in the 100-member upper House of US Congress. This means both sides lack a majority to pass any legislation. In this case, US Vice President Kamala Harris’s vote becomes the key deciding factor.
In the US Senate’s 100-member upper chamber, the ruling Democratic Party and the Republican Party each have 50 senators. This means that no party has a majority to pass laws. The vote of US Vice President Kamala Harris becomes the crucial factor in this instance.
The draught measure has reignited the debate in Pakistan about whether the United States is a reliable partner. Following the withdrawal of former Soviet Union forces from Afghanistan in 1989, Pakistan was subjected to US sanctions. Two years later, then-US President George W. Bush Senior invoked the ‘Pressler Amendment,’ halting all civil and military aid to Pakistan to pursue its nuclear program.
