Says, ‘we can’t support a government or an economy that’s inseparable from a terrorist organization’
WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, today called on the Biden Administration to ensure the world does not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, and to restrict the Taliban’s access to financial resources.
“It is very clear that the Biden Administration needs to work to ensure that the world does not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, and this administration must work to restrict the Taliban’s access to financial resources, which I agree the Taliban will use to further this sadistic behavior. Since 2002, the Taliban has been designated as a specially designated global terrorist organization, which makes them subject to counter-terrorism sanctions. This designation must remain, and Treasury must be cautious when considering any loosening of the sanctions regime that we already have in place. Members of this committee and this administration may be tempted by a false choice that resources can somehow safely be channeled to halt a humanitarian catastrophe. But this wishful thinking, [that] I feel concerned, will result in yet another national security catastrophe when the Taliban inevitably redirects those funds to their own purposes. We can’t support a government or an economy that’s inseparable from a terrorist organization.”
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