09.28.21

Sullivan, Risch and Colleagues Introduce Comprehensive Afghanistan Legislation

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), along with 21 of their Senate colleagues, yesterday introduced the Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability Act, legislation to address the outstanding issues related to the Biden administration’s rushed and disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“The consequences of President Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan are devastating: The faith of our allies has weakened, our adversaries have been emboldened, hundreds of Americans and thousands of our Afghan allies were left at the mercy of a ruthless Taliban, and Afghanistan is once again a safe haven for global terrorism,” said Sen. Sullivan. “While President Biden has stated the ‘buck stops’ with him, he has simultaneously cast blame, changed the conversation, and ducked any real accountability or responsibility. Where the president has failed to mitigate the lasting consequences of his historic foreign policy fiasco, Congress must step forward to demand accountability, restore America’s credibility, rescue our citizens and friends left behind, and protect Americans and our allies from the resurgent terrorist threat in Afghanistan.”

“We continue to see the grave implications of the Biden Administration’s haphazard withdrawal from Afghanistan. An unknown number of American citizens and Afghan partners remain abandoned in Afghanistan under threat from the Taliban, we face a renewed terror threat against the United States, and the Taliban wrongly seek recognition at the UN, even as they suppress the rights of Afghan women and girls,” said Sen. Risch. “I’m proud to introduce the Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability Act today to address these concerns and rebuild the United States’ credibility. I hope the committee will be able to mark it up soon so that we can quickly help those we left behind and protect America’s national security interests before it’s too late.”

Other original cosponsors of the legislation are Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Todd Young (R-Ind.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), John Hoeven (R-N.D), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).  

This legislation:

  • Establishes a State Department task force to focus on the evacuation of American citizens, legal permanent residents, and Afghan Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) who are still stuck in Afghanistan.
  • Imposes oversight mechanisms on the processing of SIVs and refugees.
  • Requires strategies for counterterrorism and for the disposition of Taliban-captured U.S. equipment.
  • Sanctions the Taliban and others in Afghanistan for terrorism, drug-trafficking, and human rights abuses.
  • Authorizes sanctions on those providing support to the Taliban, including foreign governments supporting the Taliban.
  • States that the United States should not recognize any member of the Taliban as the ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States or as the ambassador of Afghanistan to the United Nations.
  • Calls for a comprehensive review of foreign assistance to entities that support the Taliban.
  • Places restrictions on non-humanitarian foreign assistance to Afghanistan.

Text of the legislation can be found here.

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