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In the US House of Representatives, a legislator from the US has proposed legislation that would revoke Islamabad’s status as a key non-NATO ally and replace it with an annual certification from the president subject to a set of requirements.
Representative Andy Biggs, who sits in the Fifth Congressional District of Arizona, introduced the legislation (HR 80).
The House Foreign Affairs Committee has been tasked with taking the required steps to ensure that it is enacted by both the House and Senate before the US President signs it into law.
Usually, such laws fail, but the one that is currently before the legislature expresses the legislators’ feelings toward Pakistan, which is notorious for supporting terrorism and using it as a tool of national strategy.
The bill asks the US president to certify that Pakistan has made progress in apprehending and trying senior leaders and mid-level operatives of the Haqqani Network and has taken measures to show its commitment to keeping the group from using any Pakistani territory as a safe haven before the designation of Pakistan as a major non-NATO ally is extended further.
Given that a lot of Americans think the Haqqani network is a real-life extension of the ISI, these requirements are considered as being difficult for Pakistan to meet.
Additionally, the measure requests a certification from the US President stating that Pakistan actively works with Afghanistan to prevent militants like the Haqqani Network from crossing the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
