Four US Senators Urge Blinken To List Taliban As Foreign Terror Organization - Letter

Four Republican US senators have sent a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken urging him to designate the Taliban, (banned in Russia), as a foreign terrorist organization and to act against it to the full extent of the law, Iowa Senator Joni Ernst announced on Wednesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th September, 2021) Four Republican US senators have sent a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken urging him to designate the Taliban, (banned in Russia), as a foreign terrorist organization and to act against it to the full extent of the law, Iowa Senator Joni Ernst announced on Wednesday.

"We... 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 letter, which was also signed by Ernst's fellow Republican senators Tommy Tuberville, Rick Scott and Dan Sullivan, said.

The Taliban movement said on September 9 that the presence of members of the new Afghan government in the United States blacklist was a violation of the 2020 Doha Agreement. However, the senators noted that the organization had appointed a figure already on the FBI's most wanted list for many years to the key post of interior minister.

"The Taliban appointed Sirijuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani network and a known terrorist wanted by the FBI for the murder of American citizens as Interior Minister and allowed their organization to join the government," the senators wrote.

The Department of State Rewards for Justice Program has offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the capture of Haqqani, who is wanted for questioning in connection with the January 2008 attack on a hotel in Kabul that killed six people, including a US citizen. He is believed to have coordinated and participated in cross-border attacks against US and coalition forces in Afghanistan.