[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 5992]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 PAKISTAN IS PLAYING THE UNITED STATES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, when our forces invaded Afghanistan in 
2001, the goal was simple: remove the Taliban government that sheltered 
the plotters of the 9/11 attacks on America, and destroy al-Qaida.
  Nearly 16 years later, Afghanistan is still a haven for terrorists 
who seek to attack and kill Americans. Since then, the Taliban has 
waged an insurgency in Afghanistan, destabilizing the country, creating 
perfect conditions for terrorists to exploit.
  The Taliban and al-Qaida have launched many of their attacks in 
Afghanistan from Pakistan. Taliban insurgency is stronger today than at 
any other point since 2001. Just last week, a Taliban sneak attack 
killed more than 160 Afghan soldiers, prompting the defense minister 
and army chief of staff to resign.
  But the Taliban don't just stage attacks, they seize territory. The 
Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction said in January 
that 172 Afghan districts are controlled, influenced, or contested by 
the Taliban. Al-Qaida has a long history of loyalty to the Taliban. 
Osama bin Laden swore his allegiance to the Taliban's leader, Mullah 
Omar, even before 9/11. When bin Laden was killed in Pakistan, Ayman 
al-Zawahiri renewed that oath and cemented ties between al-Qaida and 
the Taliban. Wherever the Taliban has influence, we can be sure that 
al-Qaida is not far behind.
  Since 2010, U.S. officials have incorrectly claimed that al-Qaida had 
a small presence in the country limited only to 50 to 100 fighters. 
Then, in 2015, a shocking U.S. raid in Afghanistan uncovered a massive 
al-Qaida training camp, rounding up over 150 al-Qaida terrorists. This 
was more fighters found in one raid than the U.S. officials claimed 
existed in the entire country. And by the end of last year, U.S. 
officials announced that 250 al-Qaida terrorists were killed or 
captured in 2016 alone.
  Along with al-Qaida in Afghanistan, we have the other terrorist 
group, the Haqqani Network. This group is directly linked to al-Qaida 
and the Taliban. The Haqqani Network is responsible for more American 
deaths in the region than any other terrorist group. The Haqqani 
Network attacks inside Afghanistan have been directly traced back to--
you guessed it--Pakistan.
  In fact, in 2011, Admiral Mike Mullen, then-chairman of the U.S. 
Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified before the Senate: ``The Haqqani 
Network acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's Inter-Services 
Intelligence Agency.''
  The truth is that Pakistan has ties to about every terrorist group in 
Afghanistan. And we know that the Taliban is still based in Pakistan 
today. It came as no surprise that when the U.S. drone strike killed 
the leader of the Taliban in 2016, he was--that is right--in Pakistan.
  The laundry list of evidence of Pakistan support for terrorists goes 
on an on. We all remember where al-Qaida leader and America's most 
wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, was found and killed: in Pakistan.
  Afghanistan's representative to the U.N. recently told the Security 
Council that Pakistan maintains ties with more than 20 different 
terrorist groups.
  Mr. Speaker, Pakistan is playing us. Pakistan turns a blind eye to 
the terrorist allies, the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network 
fighters in the area. The Pakistan Taliban fighters ended up becoming 
the leaders of the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan, known as ISIS 
Khorasan province. ISIS announced their Afghan affiliate in January 
2015, and now has entrenched itself in the eastern part of the country.
  For the first time ever, the military dropped its largest non-nuclear 
bomb, the Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, earlier this month on ISIS 
targets in Afghanistan. It is no surprise that Afghanistan is a hotbed 
for terrorist mischief groups, all related to Pakistan. That is what 
Pakistan has always wanted: a weak and divided Afghanistan that 
threatens the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time we reassess our Pakistan policy so that it 
matches Pakistan's behavior in Afghanistan. We need to call Pakistan 
out. We must reduce aid to the two-faced Pakistan Government. We don't 
need to pay them to betray us. We must designate Pakistan as a state 
sponsor of terrorism, and we must remove their major non-NATO ally 
status. In the war on terror, it is crystal clear Pakistan is not on 
America's side.
  And that is just the way it is.

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