It has been seven months since the Taliban sacked Kabul. The Taliban push into Afghanistan’s capital came against the backdrop of President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw all U.S. forces from the country, as well as special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad’s ego-driven diplomacy and bizarre trust in the Taliban’s sincerity.
The Taliban’s role as an indigenous group ended soon after they emerged in 1994. Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency co-opted the group, resourced them, and ran them as its proxy. Utilizing the Taliban to shelter al Qaeda, Kashmiri separatist groups, and various other jihadists gave Islamabad plausible deniability as it sought to further its ideological and diplomatic aims by terrorism. Pakistani officials not only planned and coordinated the Taliban’s final push through Afghanistan but contributed several thousand troops to their campaign. As Americans withdrew in utter chaos, both Pakistani civilians and military officials gloated.
Weakness is provocative, and Biden exudes weakness. Adversaries do not subordinate themselves to weakness but seek sustenance by humiliating opponents. It is in that context that the Biden administration should see Pakistan’s appointment of Masood Khan as its new ambassador to Washington as less a diplomatic olive branch and more an effort symbolically to rub salt in America’s wounds. Members of Congress are correct to raise their concerns to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
After all, Khan maintains intimate relations with Pakistan-supported terrorist groups, as well as close associations with terrorists convicted by U.S. courts. Khan openly supports terrorist groups launching attacks in Kashmir. Khan has also met regularly with members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the terrorist group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, in which terrorists murdered 166 people, including six Americans, one of whom was a 13-year-old girl. This support for Lashkar-e-Taiba was the rule rather than the exception for Khan. He repeatedly praised Helping Hand for Relief and Development, an organization that openly cooperated with the terrorist group.
Khan’s appointment is a window into the reality of Pakistani policy. Rather than cooperate to defeat Islamist terrorist groups who one day will overwhelm what is left of moderate Pakistani society, Prime Minister Imran Khan encourages them.
If Biden is serious about his core duty to defend Americans, it is time not only to send Khan home but also to end Pakistan’s Major Non-NATO Ally status.
Nations that celebrate and sponsor terrorism are not allies, let alone major allies. Nor should the U.S. reward governments that harbor any terrorists, let alone those with American blood on their hands. Not only should the U.S. deny Khan’s credentials, it should respond to Khan’s provocative appointment by designating Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism.
If not, Khan will continue to realize that Pakistan can get away with murder. Symbolism is important. India dispatched Taranjit Singh Sandhu, one of its most talented career foreign service officers, to be ambassador to the U.S. The same is true of M. Shahidul Islam, who represents Bangladesh in Washington. That Pakistan sends an apologist for murder should cause Washington to reconsider its ties with Islamabad.
Michael Rubin (@mrubin1971) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential. He is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
