Source: United States Senator for North Dakota John Hoeven
WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven this week joined Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in introducing the Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability Act. This legislation:
- Establishes a State Department task force to focus on the evacuation of American citizens, legal permanent residents, and Afghan Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) who are still stuck in Afghanistan.
- Imposes oversight mechanisms on the processing of SIVs and refugees.
- Requires strategies for counterterrorism and for the disposition of Taliban-captured U.S. equipment.
- Sanctions the Taliban and others in Afghanistan for terrorism, drug-trafficking, and human rights abuses.
- Calls for a comprehensive review of foreign assistance to entities that support the Taliban and authorizes sanctions on those providing support to the Taliban, including foreign governments.
- States that the United States should not recognize any member of the Taliban as the ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States or as the ambassador of Afghanistan to the United Nations.
“Many questions remain unanswered since the Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan,” said Hoeven. “This legislation focuses on the outstanding issues and concerns that need to be addressed and it outlines our commitment to rescue those left behind, defend the United States’ national security interests and preserve our credibility to the rest of the world. At the same time, we continue pressing for answers and accountability from the Biden administration for their failed withdrawal.”
Along with Hoeven and Risch, the legislation was cosponsored by Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Todd Young (R-Ind.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).
Click here for the legislation.
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