US to ‘review Pakistan's role in past 20 yrs’, says Antony Blinken amid Taliban takeover

The Biden administration will “reassess” its relationship with Pakistan in the coming weeks to formulate what role it would play in the future of Afghanistan, US State Secretary Antony Blinken said on Monday. Testifying before the House’s Foreign Affairs Committee, the American lawmaker said that Islamabad always had “multiple interests” in American conflicts and that it has an active role in “counter-terrorism negotiations”. As the Taliban administration nears its one month anniversary, Blinken said that his country will continue to monitor Pakistan's role in "coming years."  

“(Pakistan has) multiplicity of interests some that are in conflict with ours." "It is one that is involved hedging its bets constantly about the future of Afghanistan, it's one that's involved harbouring members of the Taliban ... It is one that's also involved in different points cooperation with us on counterterrorism," Blinken said.

"This is one of the things we're going to be looking at in the days, and weeks ahead - the role that Pakistan has played over the last 20 years but also the role we would want to see it play in the coming years and what it will take for it to do that," he added.

The Fall of Kabul 

After the Taliban stormed into Kabul on 15 August, Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani resigned and fled the country with his associates. Since then, several persons have lost their lives in the chaos at the Hamid Karzai International Airport with thousands of people desperately trying to flee the country. This includes the death of at least 169 Afghans, 11 US Marines, a US Navy sailor, and a US Army soldier in a suicide bombing at the Abbey Gate of the Kabul airport on 26 August. This led to US airstrikes on terrorists belonging to ISIS-K which claimed responsibility for this attack.

On 31 August, the Taliban gained control of the Kabul airport after the last batch of US troops left Afghanistan. While the Taliban promised to form an "inclusive" government to run Afghanistan, it announced a 33-member caretaker Cabinet a day earlier which neither has women nor mainstream politicians from previous regimes. While Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the chief of the Taliban's Rehbari Shura, is the new Prime Minister, he has two deputies in Mullah Baradar and Mawlavi Hanafi. Another terrorist Sirajuddin Haqqani is the Interior Minister whereas Taliban founder Mullah Omar's son Mullah Yaqoob has been named the Defence Minister. 

Image: AP