Not a good message to India: US Senator on Pakistan’s role in Kabul

New Delhi, Sep 15: The role of Pakistan in enabling the Taliban is a victory for the hardliners in the country's government, a top American lawmaker has said, asserting that the unfolding developments in Afghanistan and the role being played by Islamabad in Kabul are not sending a good message to India said a PTI report.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, during a Congressional hearing on Afghanistan on Thursday, said multiple US administrations were guilty of ignoring Pakistan's role in helping the Taliban to regroup, as other US senators expressed concern over the "double dealing" of Islamabad.

"India ... I know that there was an announcement today there'll be a meeting of the Quad fairly soon, which is a good development, except that the Indo-Pacific region, if you are India, you're looking at this and saying, 'If the United States allowed Pakistan to unravel their standing," he said.

"Because the Pakistani role in all this - and I think multiple administrations are guilty of ignoring it. The Pakistani role in enabling the Taliban is ultimately a victory for those pro-Taliban hardliners in the Pakistani government," Marc Rubio told Antony Blinken.

US President Joe Biden would host the first in-person Quad summit on September 24 in Washington which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison and Japanese premier Yoshihide Suga.

The four leaders would discuss promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific, addressing the climate crisis and deepening their ties and advancing practical cooperation on areas like combating COVID-19, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday.

"They (Indians) have to be looking at this and saying if the United States could have, you know, a third-rate power like Pakistan unravel its aims, what chance do they have of confronting China? So, I think this leaves us in a terrible situation," Mr Rubio said during the Congressional hearing on Afghanistan convened by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

He said that all these years, while the Taliban was suffering casualties, they enjoyed safe haven in Pakistan.

"They were able to go there to rest, to refit, to train, to recruit. And so, in summary, even before the withdrawal, we had a terrible status quo. The security forces, a small number of US forces, you know, continued to die," he said.

(PTI)