As many as 22 American Senators have moved a bill in the US Congress seeking a report from Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Pakistan's role in the Taliban’s blitzkrieg that led to the collapse of the US-backed Afghan government and Islamabad’s support to the Taliban offensive against the resistance forces in the Panjshir Valley.
The Republican senators on Tuesday introduced the legislation to impose sanctions on the Taliban in Afghanistan and on all the foreign governments that support the hardline Islamic group that seized power in Kabul.
The proposed legislation requires the secretary of state, in consultation with the secretary of defence and the director of national intelligence, to submit a report on entities providing support to the Taliban to the appropriate congressional committees.
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The report must reach the relevant committees “not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this act, and not less frequently than annually thereafter”.
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,” including the provision of sanctuary space, financial support, intelligence support, logistics and medical support, training, equipping, and tactical, operation or strategic direction.
The legislation also requires “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”.
Pakistan said that the reference made towards the country in the legislation introduced in the US congress was "unwarranted".
"The legislation includes references to Pakistan that are completely unwarranted. We find all such references inconsistent with the spirit of Pakistan-US cooperation on Afghanistan since 2001, including facilitation of the Afghan peace process and during the recent evacuations of American and other nationals from Afghanistan," the Pakistan Foreign Office said in a statement.
It said the proposed legislative measures as "uncalled for and counterproductive".
Reacting to the development, federal Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari said that Pakistan will once again be made to pay a heavy price for being an ally of the US in the 'War on Terror', according to a report in the Dawn newspaper.
"Twenty years of presence by economically and militarily powerful US and NATO left behind chaos with no stable governance structures. Pakistan is now being scapegoated for this failure," she said.
