US Secretary of State Antony Blinken known as Monday on Pakistan to disclaim legitimacy to the Taliban until they meet worldwide calls for, acknowledging considerations that Islamabad has supported militants from Afghanistan.
Testifying earlier than Congress on the Taliban victory in Afghanistan, Blinken heard from lawmakers throughout occasion traces who pushed for a tougher line on Pakistan, an uneasy accomplice of Washington over the 20-year battle.”What we have to look at is an insistence that every country, to include Pakistan, make good on the expectations that the international community has of what is required of a Taliban-led government if it’s to receive any legitimacy of any kind or any support,” Blinken instructed the House Foreign Affairs Committee.He mentioned the priorities included guaranteeing the Taliban set free individuals who wish to go away Afghanistan and respect the rights of girls, women and minorities, in addition to adhere to guarantees that the nation not once more develop into “a haven for outward-directed terror.””So Pakistan needs to line up with a broad majority of the international community in working toward those ends and in upholding those expectations,” Blinken mentioned.Blinken mentioned Pakistan’s insurance policies have been “on many occasions detrimental to our interests, on other occasions in support of those interests.”Pakistan’s actions have “involved hedging its bets constantly about the future of Afghanistan,” he added.”It’s one that’s involved harbouring members of the Taliban, including the Haqqanis,” Blinken mentioned, referring to the group designated as terrorists by Washington that’s now a part of the caretaker authorities.Democratic Representative Joaquin Castro, one in every of a number of lawmakers to criticize Pakistan, known as on the United States to contemplate eradicating its standing as a serious non-NATO ally, which supplies Islamabad privileged entry to US weaponry.Pakistani intelligence had shut ties with the Taliban relationship from the Islamist guerrillas’ rise within the Nineteen Nineties and Pakistan was one in every of solely three nations to acknowledge its 1996-2001 authorities, which was infamous for its repression of girls’s rights as a part of an ultra-austere interpretation of Islam.Pakistan, a Cold War ally of the United States, rapidly pledged cooperation within the US-led “war on terror” after the September 11, 2001, assaults.But Pakistan has continuously considered Afghanistan via the prism of its historic rivalry with India, a serious accomplice to the fallen Western-backed authorities.