On Wednesday, Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad stated that “unwarranted” references to Pakistan in a recently introduced bill in the United States Senate were “inconsistent” with the spirit of cooperation that had existed between the two nations on the matter of Afghanistan since 2001.
“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,” he stated.
The references to Pakistan in the bill were “completely unwarranted”, he said. Terming those references as “inconsistent in spirit” with Pak-US cooperation on Afghanistan since the United States invasion in 2001, he reminded that Pakistan had facilitated the Afghan peace process and helped evacuate citizens of the US and other countries from Afghanistan in August of 2021.
Further, Ahmad repeated that Pakistan had always maintained that there was no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan. It had also highlighted that a coercive approach would not work and the only way to achieve sustainable peace in the war-torn country was through engagement and dialogue.
He noted that persistent security cooperation between Pakistan and the US would “remain critical in dealing with any future terrorist threat in the region”.
“Such proposed legislative measures are, therefore, uncalled for and counterproductive,” the spokesperson said.
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Role of Pakistan in US-Afghan war
On Monday, Twenty-two US senators moved a bill in the Senate that seeks to assess Pakistan’s alleged role in Afghanistan before and after the fall of Kabul and in the Taliban offensive in Panjshir Valley.
Senator Jim Risch, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and other Republicans presented the Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability Act to address outstanding issues related to the Biden administration’s “rushed and disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan”.
The proposed legislation demands for a comprehensive report on who supported the Taliban during America’s 20 years in Afghanistan, assisted the group in capturing Kabul in mid-August, and supported their offensive on Panjshir Valley.
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The first report shall include “an assessment of support by state and non-state actors, including the government of Pakistan, for the Taliban between 2001 and 2020”, as well as the provision of sanctuary space, financial support, intelligence support, logistics, and medical support, training, equipping, and tactical, operation or strategic direction, according to the bill.
The legislation also entails “an assessment of support by state and non-state actors, including the government of Pakistan, for the September 2021 offensive of the Taliban against the Panjshir Valley and the Afghan resistance”.
Likewise, the proposed bill seeks to force sanctions on the Taliban and others in Afghanistan for terrorism, drug trafficking, and human rights abuse, including those offering assistance to the Taliban, and foreign governments.
It states that the US should not recognize any member of the Taliban as the ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States or as the ambassador of Afghanistan to the United Nations, and places restrictions on non-humanitarian foreign assistance to the war-torn country.
It also demands a comprehensive review of foreign assistance to entities that support the Taliban.
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