Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a military veteran and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, along with a number of her Republican colleagues, is urging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to take into full consideration the Taliban’s violent actions since seizing complete control of Afghanistan in August and have the United States officially designate the group as a terrorist organization.
“We believe the Taliban easily meets all three criteria and urge you to consider designating the Taliban as a foreign terrorist organization and treating them as such to the maximum extent of the law,” the Republican senators wrote in a letter.
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the three criteria for making the terrorist designation are that the group in question is a foreign organization; that the group engages in or is capable of engaging in terrorist activity; and that said terrorist activity threatens the security of the United States.
“Given their history of supporting terror attacks on the United States, their brutal style of governance, their continued display of atrocities against Americans and our allies, and now, their enhanced military capability, the current version of the Taliban government presents a significant threat to the United States. Further, the Taliban display the will and the means to attack Americans and American interests,” the letter reads.
During the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s first hearing on the military withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) asked Blinken if the Biden administration believes that the Taliban is a terrorist organization.
“It’s designated under one of the designations, and any engagement that we have will be purely for the purposes of advancing our interests,” Blinken said, but didn’t confirm if the Biden administration considers the group to be a terrorist organization.
Blinken told the committee that the administration will look very closely at the Taliban’s actions to determine what actions it should take with them in providing aid.
By Masooma Haq
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