[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 142 (Tuesday, September 20, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1307-E1308]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          DAY OF RECKONING--PAKISTAN IS NOT A TRUSTWORTHY ALLY

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 20, 2016

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Pakistan is not America's trustworthy 
ally.

[[Page E1308]]

  For years, Pakistan has been aiding and abetting the enemies of the 
United States of America. These are not enemies who simply profess to 
hate us. These are groups and individuals with American blood on their 
hands.
  However, the United States continues to give billions of money to 
Pakistan.
  Frankly, Pakistan has been playing both sides on the war on terror. 
Pakistan openly supported the Taliban both before and after they came 
to power in Afghanistan. They provided the radical extremists with 
cover, cash, and weapons to conduct attacks. Senior Taliban leaders 
still live in Pakistan to this day. They are not all hiding in remote 
caves in the mountains far from the eyes of Pakistani officials. Some 
of these terrorist leaders are known to live in Pakistan's capital, 
Islamabad. It came as no surprise that the leader of the Afghan Taliban 
was killed by a U.S. drone strike while in Pakistan in May.
  In fact, Mr. Speaker, the worldwide Taliban headquarters is . . . in 
the Pakistan city of Quetta.
  Pakistan is not America's trustworthy ally.
  There is more. The Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Agency 
fosters close, cozy ties with the Taliban leaders, directly assisting 
them to carry out a terrorist agenda approved by Islamabad. Documents 
leaked in 2010 revealed direct meetings between the ISI and the Taliban 
to organize and orchestrate attacks on American soldiers in 
Afghanistan. Pakistan's security services also maintain illegal ties to 
the Haqqani network, a rabid criminal terrorist syndicate that has 
claimed responsibility for numerous bloody attacks against American and 
NATO forces.
  Admiral Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 
Staff, testified in 2011 that Pakistan supported many Haqqani network 
attacks in Afghanistan, including an assault on the U.S. Embassy. 
Admiral Mullen even called the Haqqani network ``the veritable arm of 
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency.'' Five years later, 
little has changed. This summer, the Department of Defense announced 
that it could not certify that Pakistan has taken action against the 
Haqqani network. Therefore, Pakistan lost hundreds of millions of 
dollars of U.S. aid.
  Pakistan is not America's trustworthy ally.
  Yet another terrorist group protected by the ISI is Lashkar-e-Taiba, 
the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai, India massacre. This murderous 
rampage claimed the lives of 166 individuals and left over 600 wounded. 
This group arrogantly operates freely within Pakistan. Its founder 
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is an open public figure in the country despite a 
$10 million dollar U.S. bounty on his head. Pakistan has even 
maintained contact with the perpetrators of the most devastating 
attacks on our homeland, al-Qaeda. In fact, in 1998 Pakistani nuclear 
scientists met with senior al-Qaeda leaders to discuss the possibility 
of the terrorist group developing a nuclear weapon.
  Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the 
invasion of Afghanistan, outlaw leaders of al-Qaeda and the Taliban 
knew just where to find a hideout--across the border to Pakistan. Home 
sweet home.
  Evidence emerged in 2005 and 2008 that Pakistan's ISI was working 
hand in hand with al-Qaeda operatives to purchase arms. Further 
evidence shows the bandit groups moved Arab fighters to fight against 
Americans trying to bring peace to Afghanistan.
  Finally, Pakistan was harboring public enemy Number 1, the coward 
Osama bin Laden, in a luxurious home near a military compound. American 
Navy SEALs brought justice upon his head in 2011.
  These are well established facts that even the Administration has 
acknowledged Pakistan's despicable record of combatting terrorism. The 
most recent edition of the State Department's Country Reports on 
Terrorism plainly states that Pakistan ``did not take substantial 
action'' against terrorist groups nor did it limit their ability to 
attack U.S. interests in neighboring Afghanistan. It details the 
ongoing capabilities of terrorist groups to ``operate, train, organize, 
and fundraise in Pakistan.''
  Pakistan is not America's trustworthy ally.
  In spite of this overwhelming evidence, the State Department still 
perversely and blissfully maintains that Pakistan is a ``critical 
counterterrorism partner.'' This simply does not make sense. The 
American people demand an explanation. Is Pakistan a friend or a foe in 
the fight against terrorism?
  My bill, the Pakistan State Sponsor of Terrorism Designation Act of 
2016, will require the Administration to answer this question. The 
President must issue a report in 90 days detailing whether or not 
Pakistan has provided support for international terrorism. Thirty days 
later, the Secretary of State must issue a follow-up report containing 
either a determination that Pakistan is state sponsor of terrorism or a 
detailed justification as to why Islamabad does not meet the legal 
criteria for designation.
  A day of reckoning has arrived. Fifteen years after September 11, 
2001, we have more than enough evidence to determine whose side 
Pakistan is on. And it's not America's.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________