The Interior Ministry strongly reacted to a US Senate bill seeking to impose sanctions on the Islamic Emirate and its supporters, saying that the imposition of sanctions on the Islamic Emirate will repeat the failed policies of the US in Afghanistan.  

The US Senate introduced a bill that calls for sanctions on the Islamic Emirate and an assessment of supporters of the Emirate, including Pakistan.

“An unknown number of American citizens and Afghan partners remain abandoned in Afghanistan under threat from the Taliban,” said Senator Jim Risch, a top member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  “We face a renewed terror threat against the United States, and the Taliban wrongly seek recognition at the United Nations, even as they suppress the rights of Afghan women and girls.” 

The bill named Pakistan as one of the supporters of the Islamic Emirate and asked the US state department to assess Pakistan’s role in support of the Taliban between 2001 and 2020.

Pakistan, in reaction to the bill, said it has never provided military support to the “Taliban." 

Addressing a gathering in Islamabad, the Pakistani minister of interior Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad said the "US is accusing us that we facilitated the Taliban, but we only facilitated them to bring them to the table at the request of the US." 

“Any sanction causes harm to Afghanistan’s interest and its people, and should not be imposed; the Taliban should be asked to engage politically with the international community,” said Hekmatullah Hikmat, a political analyst. 

Abdul Naseer Rishtia, a political analyst, said Afghanistan is "not capable of overcoming the sanctions because over 20 million people are in grave need of humanitarian assistance.” 

The Islamic Emirate called the US Senate bill a repeat of the failed forceful tactics of the US on Afghanistan, and called on the US to engage with them via negotiations.  

The press director of the interior ministry, Qari Sayed Khosti, said “(the US) must have taken a good lesson about the use of force in the past 20 years, during which they haven’t gained anything by force. The Afghans want good relations."

This comes as officials of the Islamic Emirate called on the UN and US to lift sanctions on its members and allow their permanent representative to the UN to secure the seat.