ISLAMABAD: Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari lashed out at the American legislators for tabling a bill in the US Senate seeking imposition of sanctions on the Afghan Taliban that could also potentially extend to Pakistan.
In a series of tweets, she said that once again, Islamabad was being punished for being America’s ally in the War on Terror. She said despite being in Afghanistan for 20 years, the US government has left behind “no stable governance structures”.
“Pakistan now being scapegoated for this failure. This was never our war; we suffered 80,000 casualties, a dessimated economy, over 450 drone attacks by our US “ally”,” she tweeted.
She asked the US to introspect, wondering whether the massive $2 trillion invested by the US had been spent. “US Senate shd do serious introspection: Where did $ 2 trillion disappear? Why did the heavily-invested-in ANA simply dissolve? Who asked Pak to free TTA leadrship? Who signed Doha agreement with TTA & hosted them in DC?”
She urged Western countries to look to their own failures rather than blame Pakistan for them. “Enough is enough. It is time for those powers who were present in Afghanistan to look to their own failures instead of targeting Pakistan which paid a heavy price in lives lost, social & economic costs, refugees – all for being an ally & suffering constant abuse, in a war that wasn’t ours,” she tweeted.
20 years of presence by economically & militarily powerful US & NATO left behind chaos with no stable governance structures.Pak now being scapegoated for this failure.This was never our war; we suffered 80000 casualties, a dessimated economy, over 450 drone attacks by r US “ally”
— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) September 28, 2021
A group of high-profile US senators has moved a bill in the US Senate seeking imposition of sanctions on the Afghan Taliban and their supporters who helped the group take over the country. The bill, titled ‘Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability Act’, triggered an angry rebuke from a senior member of Pakistan’s cabinet.
The 22 lawmakers, all from the Republican Party, introduced the bill on Monday that requires “the imposition of sanctions with respect to the Taliban and persons assisting the Taliban in Afghanistan, and for other purposes.”
The proposed legislation also seeks to review and suspend assistance to and potentially impose sanctions on any foreign government the US believes was or is supporting the Taliban. It singles out Pakistan by name in the section that calls for a report on “entities providing support for the Taliban”.
