[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 163 (Tuesday, September 21, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6564-S6565]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Tribute to Staff

  Madam President, I want to take this opportunity to highlight another 
group of Americans who rarely receive the public recognition they 
deserve, the staff right here in the U.S. Senate. These staffers shun 
the spotlight and dedicate their craft to represent the interests of 
our constituents.
  When it became clear that the administration was failing in 
Afghanistan, congressional staffers from across Capitol Hill--from both 
parties in Washington and in State offices and district offices around 
the country--rose to the challenge. These staffers helped with a 
modern-day ``Digital Dunkirk.'' They were united in the common cause of 
helping stranded Americans and Afghan allies. Many of them sprung to 
action instinctively and in an instant, almost as if they had been on 
call, like a doctor or a firefighter, immediately ready to help 
mitigate the damage of this disaster.
  Some of those who did this work serve on my staff: Bobby Zarate, my 
national security advisor, spent countless hours engaging with 
counterparts in the State Department, communicating with Active-Duty 
military and veterans, including some on the ground in Afghanistan, 
and, of course, fielding requests from all corners to expedite cases of 
American citizens and allies in Afghanistan; Kevin Kim, a fellow in my 
office from the State Department; Rachel Leong, a legislative 
correspondent; and Bonny Warren, a caseworker in my Cookeville office. 
They were all right there, too, every step of the way.
  For their work on behalf of folks in need, I want to thank them for 
all that they do and all they continue to do.
  I imagine many of my colleagues here in the Senate have similar 
stories, their own Bobbys, their own Kevins, and Rachels, and Bonnys 
helping those in need. And for the totality of their work, we, the 
Members of the Senate, owe our staff a great thanks.
  I am honored to describe the role that my office played and is 
continuing to play in rescuing Americans from Afghanistan, but it 
didn't have to be this way. And I hope, for the sake of our government 
and our country, that it will never be this way again.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas.
  Mr. COTTON. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator 
Murphy and I be allowed to complete our exchange before the next 
scheduled vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 2770

  Mr. COTTON. Madam President, after Joe Biden's disastrous retreat 
from Afghanistan, the country has fallen to a medieval band of 
degenerate savages known as the Taliban.
  Despite its depraved behavior, you won't hear anyone in our 
government call the Taliban what it is: a terrorist organization. 
Instead, Secretary of State Blinken has said, for example, that the 
Taliban ``does not meet the test of inclusivity.'' It is as if the 
Biden administration is more concerned that the Taliban is led by men 
than that it is led by terrorists.
  This administration has refused to declare that the Taliban is a 
foreign terrorist organization, perhaps because the President 
outsourced the security of American citizens to the Taliban last month 
and stood by as it took over a country of nearly 40 million people.
  Once again, the Biden administration is putting image, public 
relations, before everything else. It refuses to acknowledge that the 
Afghan retreat was anything but an ``extraordinary success,'' as Joe 
Biden has called it. And now it is refusing to call terrorists 
``terrorists.''
  But the truth is obvious. If the Taliban isn't a foreign terrorist 
organization, what is? The State Department's terrorism list includes 
groups like Shining Path, the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist guerillas in 
Peru, and Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese doomsday cult.
  If the State Department can go to the trouble of designating those 
groups as terrorist organizations, surely they can do the same for a 
band of jihadists whose hands are dripping with American blood.
  Indeed, the Taliban matches to a tee the definition for foreign 
terrorist organization under U.S. law. That law sets out three 
criteria: First, it must be a foreign organization. I would assume the 
Biden administration would

[[Page S6565]]

concede even that point about the Taliban. Second, it must engage in 
terrorist activity. Has the Taliban engaged in terrorist activity? 
Countless victims of Taliban suicide bombings, targeted assassinations, 
IEDs, and acid attacks would surely answer yes to that question, if 
they survived those heinous crimes.
  Consider the following as well: At least 14 of the Taliban's 33 so-
called cabinet ministers are on the United Nations' sanctions list for 
terrorism. No fewer than five were once held with terrorists at 
Guantanamo Bay.
  One of the most powerful factions of the Taliban is the murderous 
Haqqani Network--a twisted clan that the United States has already 
designated a terrorist organization under the Obama administration.
  The Taliban has put the leader of the Haqqani Network in charge of 
the country's secret police and, yes, its immigration system, which is 
currently determining which persons can leave the country.
  Sirajuddin Haqqani is one of America's most-wanted terrorists for 
attacking the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and hotels full of civilians, among 
other crimes.
  It is also worth noting that the son of the Taliban's leader and so-
called emir blew himself up in a suicide attack against the Afghan 
Government in 2017. Evidently, he thought the Taliban was a terrorist 
organization, even if some around Washington shrink from that label.
  Finally, the third criterion for a foreign terrorist organization is 
that its terrorism must threaten the security of Americans or our 
national security.
  With an estimated 100 Americans and thousands of green card holders 
currently trapped in Taliban-occupied Afghanistan, I would say the 
answer to that question is also obvious. It would still be obvious even 
if we didn't face an active hostage situation since the Taliban still 
provides safe haven to al-Qaida, who murdered thousands of Americans on 
September 11, 2001.
  Despite the Taliban's empty promises that it would never again help 
al-Qaida, a recent United Nations report found that ``the Taliban and 
al-Qaida remain closely aligned and show no indication of breaking 
ties.'' Al-Qaida continues to pledge allegiance to the Taliban, and its 
regional affiliate even operates under the Taliban banner in Kandahar. 
Now, that is a national security threat to America, if there ever was 
one.
  So, to summarize, the Taliban is run by terrorists, it associates 
with terrorists, and it engages in terrorism. The Biden 
administration's refusal to call a spade a spade is a grave insult to 
the memory of the Taliban's victims and the tens of thousands of 
Americans who fought against it. It is worth remembering how many 
American lives the Taliban took, how many American warriors they 
maimed, and how many families they have shattered. That is terrorism.
  So I will be asking unanimous consent for my bill, which would 
require Secretary Blinken to call the Taliban what they are--not a 
potential partner for Joe Biden, not a threat to inclusivity, but a 
terrorist organization.
  Therefore, Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask 
unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate 
consideration of S. 2770, which is at the desk; I further ask that the 
bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. MURPHY. Madam President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. MURPHY. Madam President, reserving the right to object, how 
quickly my colleagues forget that it was President Trump who entered 
into negotiations with the Taliban. It was President Trump who entered 
into an agreement with the Taliban that committed the United States to 
withdraw our forces. It was President Trump who sold out women and 
girls in that country by refusing to put their interests first at that 
negotiating table. It was President Trump who elevated the Taliban in 
the international community by putting them face-to-face with our 
negotiators.
  It is important to note, as to the specific request that is being 
made by the Senator from Arkansas, that right now, the Taliban is 
already designated as a designated global terrorist entity under 
Executive Order 13224. So they are already designated as a terrorist 
entity.
  There are specific problems with this designation. First, I don't 
think it is a great idea for us to be designating FTOs by statute. 
There is a reason why we generally allow the administration to do this. 
But maybe more importantly, what comes with an FTO is the withdrawal of 
humanitarian organizations from the country at hand. We know that 
because we saw it in Yemen. When President Trump designated the Houthis 
as an FTO for about a week, humanitarian organizations started pulling 
up their stakes. Right now, there are 18 million Afghans who are in 
need of lifesaving humanitarian assistance. This is not the moment to 
take a step that will cause Afghans to starve.
  The second reason not to do this this way is because, whether we like 
it or not, we are in communication through intermediaries with the 
Taliban to get our people out, to get our partners out. There are 
flights leaving on a regular basis. And to designate them as an FTO, in 
addition to the existing designation that the Taliban has as a 
specially designated global terrorist entity, is to risk our ability to 
continue to bring our people out.
  We should be joined together as a Senate, despite the views we have 
on whether we should have stayed or left Afghanistan, in our support 
for the Afghan people by making sure that we do not take steps to cut 
off humanitarian assistance to people in need and our belief that we 
should be supporting this administration in their effort to continue to 
get our partners out.
  This designation done this way will risk both of those initiatives, 
and for that reason, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Arkansas.
  Mr. COTTON. Madam President, I share my colleague's grave concerns 
about the humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan. I share his concerns 
about the fate of Americans and green card holders and their families 
and Afghans who fought alongside our troops who were also left behind 
in Afghanistan. Both of these crises--the humanitarian crisis and the 
crisis of Americans left behind Taliban enemy lines--are the 
responsibility of Joe Biden for his hapless, disorganized, chaotic 
execution of the withdrawal from that country.
  I yield the floor.