WASHINGTON: The United States is holding direct talks with Pakistan over the use of a vital air corridor to Afghanistan, even though some US lawmakers are demanding a probe into Islamabad’s alleged role in the Afghan war, says a senior American general.

Gen Frank McKenzie, who heads the US Central Command, confirmed at a congressional hearing on Tuesday that the US and Pakistan were “involved in ongoing deliberations” over the air corridor.

“Over the last 20 years we’ve been able to use what we call the air boulevard to go in over western Pakistan and that’s become something that’s vital to us, as well as certain landlines of communication,” he said.

“And we’ll be working with the Pakistanis in the days and weeks ahead to look at what that relationship is going to look like in the future.”

But another top military leader, Chairman Joints Chiefs of Staff Gen Mark Milley, supported the demand for probing Pakistan’s alleged role in the Afghan war at the same Senate hearing. “We need to fully examine the role of Pakistan sanctuary,”

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley told the Senate committee while emphasising the need to probe how the Taliban withstood US military pressure for 20 years.

On Monday, 22 Republican lawmakers moved a bill in the Senate that seeks to assess Pakistan’s alleged role in Afghanistan before and after the fall of Kabul and in the Taliban offensive in Panjshir Valley.

Senator Jim Risch, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and other Republicans introduced the Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability Act in the Senate on Monday to address outstanding issues related to the Biden administration’s “rushed and disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.”

The proposed legislation calls for a comprehensive report on who supported the Taliban during America’s 20 years in Afghanistan, helped the group in capturing Kabul in mid-August and supported their offensive on Panjshir Valley.

The bill requires the secretary of state, in consultation with the secretary of defence and the director of national intelligence, to submit a report on entities providing support to the Taliban to the appropriate congressional committees.

The report must reach the relevant committees “not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this act, and not less frequently than annually thereafter”.

The first report shall include “an assessment of support by state and non-state actors, including the government of Pakistan, for the Taliban between 2001 and 2020,” including the provision of sanctuary space, financial support, intelligence support, logistics and medical support, training, equipping, and tactical, operation or strategic direction.

The legislation also requires “an assessment of support by state and non-state actors, including the government of Pakistan,” for the Taliban offensive on Kabul and for the September 2021 offensive of the Taliban against the Panjshir Valley and the Afghan resistance.

“We continue to see the grave implications of the Biden administration’s haphazard withdrawal from Afghanistan,” Senator Risch said in a statement issued by his office.

“We face a renewed terror threat against the United States, and the Taliban wrongly seek recognition at the United Nations, even as they suppress the rights of Afghan women and girls,” he said.

The proposed legislation also seeks to impose sanctions on the Taliban and others in Afghanistan for terrorism, drug-trafficking, and human rights abuses, as well as on those providing support to the Taliban, including foreign governments.

It states that the US should not recognise any member of the Taliban as the ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States or as the ambassador of Afghanistan to the United Nations, and places restrictions on non-humanitarian foreign assistance to the war-torn country.

It also calls for a comprehensive review of foreign assistance to entities that support the Taliban. The bill also seeks to establish a US 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, as well as impose oversight mechanisms on the processing of SIVs and refugees.

It also calls for strategies for counterterrorism and for the disposition of Taliban-captured US equipment. At the Senate hearing, Gen Milley said he had warned US President Joe Biden that a rushed withdrawal from Afghanistan could increase risks to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and the country’s security.

“We estimated an accelerated withdrawal would increase risks of regional instability, the security of Pakistan and its nuclear arsenals,” he said.

Gen McKenzie warned that the Taliban Pakistan will now have to deal with would be different from the one they dealt with earlier, and this would complicate their relations.

“I believe Pakistan’s relationship with the Taliban is going to become significantly more complicated as a result of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan,” he told the lawmakers.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2021