[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 158 (Tuesday, September 14, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6503-S6504]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 359--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT THE 
  SECRETARY OF STATE SHOULD DESIGNATE THE AFGHAN TALIBAN AS A FOREIGN 
    TERRORIST ORGANIZATION, FREEZE ALL ASSETS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF 
   AFGHANISTAN HELD IN THE UNITED STATES, AND USE ALL AUTHORITY AND 
INFLUENCE OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT TO PROHIBIT THE DISTRIBUTION 
  OF FUNDS TO THE AFGHAN TALIBAN BY OTHER COUNTRIES AND INTERNATIONAL 
                     INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS

  Mr. GRAHAM (for himself and Mr. Burr) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 359

       Whereas the designation of an organization as a Foreign 
     Terrorist Organization ``play[s] a critical role in our fight 
     against terrorism and [is] an effective means of curtailing 
     support for terrorist activities'', according to the 
     Department of State;
       Whereas, under section 219 of the Immigration and 
     Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189), the Secretary of State may 
     designate an organization as a Foreign Terrorist Organization 
     if the organization is a foreign organization, the 
     organization engages in terrorist activity or retains the 
     capability and intent to engage in terrorist activity or 
     terrorism, and the terrorist activity or terrorism of the 
     organization threatens the security of United States 
     nationals or the national security of the United States;
       Whereas, as of August 2021, there are 72 designated Foreign 
     Terrorist Organizations, including radical Islamic terror 
     groups such as Al-Qaida, which was designated as a Foreign 
     Terrorist Organization in 1999;
       Whereas, prior to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the 
     United States, the Afghan Taliban provided a safe haven for 
     Al-Qaida to plan, train, and operate freely;
       Whereas, following those attacks on the United States, 
     which killed almost 3,000 people, the Afghan Taliban 
     continued to support Al-Qaida;
       Whereas Al-Qaida first pledged allegiance to the Afghan 
     Taliban in the 1990s and have reaffirmed their loyalty to the 
     Afghan Taliban repeatedly since 2001;
       Whereas, since the early 1990s, the Afghan Taliban have 
     been responsible for the deaths of countless innocent 
     civilians in Afghanistan, terrorizing the countryside and the 
     cities alike;
       Whereas the United Nations report of the Analytical Support 
     and Sanctions Monitoring Team released in June 2021 stated 
     that ``the [Afghan] Taliban and Al-Qaida remain closely 
     aligned and show no indication

[[Page S6504]]

     of breaking ties'', and ``Al-Qaida is resident in at least 15 
     Afghan provinces'';
       Whereas, according to the Afghanistan Study Group, ``the 
     [Afghan] Taliban have fallen short of their commitments: they 
     have failed to fulfill their guarantee that they will not 
     `cooperate with groups or individuals threatening the 
     security of the United States and its allies' and will 
     `prevent them from recruiting, training, and fundraising and 
     will not host them' '';
       Whereas the Afghan Taliban have continued their terrorist 
     actions through targeted assassinations of former Afghan 
     leaders, prominent civilian leaders, judges, journalists, and 
     human rights advocates;
       Whereas an Afghanistan under Afghan Taliban control will 
     result in further oppression of the Afghan people, including 
     women and girls, and the creation of a safe haven for radical 
     Islamic terror groups, which will result in the United States 
     homeland being less safe;
       Whereas the threat to the United States homeland has 
     greatly increased now that the Afghan Taliban have taken 
     control of Afghanistan;
       Whereas, on September 13, 2021, Secretary of State Antony 
     Blinken testified before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 
     the House of Representatives that ``the [Afghan] Taliban has 
     been designated as a terrorist organization'';
       Whereas it is critical that all elements of United States 
     national power be used to prohibit the Afghan Taliban from 
     using Afghanistan as a base from which radical Islamic terror 
     organizations can strike the United States homeland, as they 
     did on September 11, 2001;
       Whereas the Afghan Taliban share an ideology and interact 
     closely with designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations, 
     including Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent, the Haqqani 
     Network, and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan;
       Whereas the newly formed Afghan Taliban Government includes 
     in its senior ranks individuals subject to sanctions imposed 
     by the United Nations and leaders of the Haqqani Network, all 
     of whom are hostile to the United States;
       Whereas Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani 
     Network, which has targeted and killed United States 
     citizens, has been named as the acting Interior Minister of 
     Afghanistan;
       Whereas Sirajuddin Haqqani is listed on the Most Wanted 
     list of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Rewards 
     for Justice program of the Department of State is offering a 
     reward of up to $10,000,000 for information leading to his 
     arrest;
       Whereas Khalil al-Rahman Haqqani, the uncle of Sirajuddin 
     Haqqani and a specially designated global terrorist under 
     Executive Order 13224 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note; relating to 
     blocking property and prohibiting transactions with persons 
     who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism) for 
     whom the Rewards for Justice program of the Department of 
     State is offering a reward of $5,000,000 for information 
     leading to his arrest, has been named acting Minister of 
     Refugees of Afghanistan;
       Whereas the United States Government must do everything 
     possible to limit the influence of the Afghan Taliban regime, 
     including denying the regime access to all money held by the 
     United States Government, and should pressure other countries 
     to do the same;
       Whereas the Biden administration should use all authority 
     and influence to prohibit international institutions and 
     organizations from distributing funds within the jurisdiction 
     of those institutions and organizations to the Afghan Taliban 
     regime; and
       Whereas the Biden administration should designate the 
     takeover of Afghanistan by the Afghan Taliban as a coup 
     d'etat, and all foreign assistance to Afghanistan, including 
     funds administered by United States Agency for International 
     Development, should be withheld: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) stands with the Afghan people who are now living under 
     the brutal Afghan Taliban regime;
       (2) calls upon the Secretary of State to designate the 
     Afghan Taliban as a Foreign Terrorist Organization;
       (3) declares that the takeover of Afghanistan by the Afghan 
     Taliban should be designated as a coup d'etat;
       (4) states that the United States Government must deny the 
     Afghan Taliban regime access to funds held by the United 
     States Government and work to ensure other countries do the 
     same; and
       (5) calls upon the United States Government to use all 
     authority and influence to encourage international 
     institutions and organizations to deny the Afghan Taliban 
     regime access to funds held within the jurisdiction of those 
     institutions and organizations.

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