As trouble mounts for the President of the United States Joe Biden for his handling of the botched Afghan crisis, lawmakers have asked Biden to recognise Ex-Afghan Vice-President Amrullah Saleh and anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Massoud as the legitimate government representatives of Afghanistan.
At present, Saleh along with Massoud are waging a lone struggle against the Taliban in the Panjshir valley in Afghanistan.
However, in a joint statement on Friday (27 August), US Senator Lindsey Graham and Congressman Mike Waltz also asked the Biden administration to recognise both the Afghan leaders as the legitimate head of the state.
“After speaking with Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh and representatives of Ahmad Massoud, we are calling on the Biden Administration to recognise these leaders as the legitimate government representatives of Afghanistan. We ask the Biden administration to recognise that the Afghan Constitution is still intact, and the Afghan Taliban takeover is illegal,”the two US lawmakers said in the joint statement.
BIG: US Senator @LindseyGrahamSC and US Congressman @michaelgwaltz ask US President Joe Biden to recognise Amrullah Saleh and Ahmad Massoud as the legitimate government representatives of Afghanistan. “They will be the front lines in the fight against global Islamic Extremism”. pic.twitter.com/OAWq1sCT2J
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) August 27, 2021
Both US politicians pointed out that Saleh and Masood chose to stay in Afghanistan despite the Taliban takeover to “fight for the freedoms of Afghan people and oppose extremism”.
Saleh used to be the director of the Afghan intelligence agency National Directorate of Security from 2004 to 2010 and worked very closely with the US when the invasion began. After the Taliban terrorists reached Kabul on 15 August he left Kabul and went to the Panjshir Valley (northeast of Kabul), to hold out in the fight against the Taliban.
“They have established a safe haven in the Panjshir valley for Americans left behind, our allies, and those seeking freedom from Afghan Taliban rule,” the US lawmakers said.
“They will also be on the front lines in the fight against global Islamic Extremism, which will continue to plot attacks against the West in the wake of our withdrawal from the region,” they said.
Both lawmakers also asked President Biden to designate the Afghan Taliban as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation, and to stand with US allies in the Panjshir valley who, they said, will serve as a “bulwark against regional terror”.
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