III 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 359 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the Secretary of State should designate the Afghan Taliban as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, freeze 

all assets of the Government of Afghanistan held in the United States, 

and use all authority and influence of the United States Government 

to prohibit the distribution of funds to the Afghan Taliban by other 

countries and international institutions and organizations. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021 

Mr. GRAHAM (for himself and Mr. BURR) submitted the following resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the Secretary of 

State should designate the Afghan Taliban as a Foreign 

Terrorist Organization, freeze all assets of the Government of Afghanistan held in the United States, and 

use all authority and influence of the United States 

Government to prohibit the distribution of funds to the 

Afghan Taliban by other countries and international institutions and organizations. 

Whereas the designation of an organization as a Foreign Terrorist Organization ‘‘play[s] a critical role in our fight 

against terrorism and [is] an effective means of curtailing support for terrorist activities’’, according to the 

Department of State; 


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•SRES 359 IS 

Whereas, under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189), the Secretary of State may 

designate an organization as a Foreign Terrorist Organization if the organization is a foreign organization, the 

organization engages in terrorist activity or retains the 

capability and intent to engage in terrorist activity or terrorism, and the terrorist activity or terrorism of the organization threatens the security of United States nationals 

or the national security of the United States; 

Whereas, as of August 2021, there are 72 designated Foreign 

Terrorist Organizations, including radical Islamic terror 

groups such as Al-Qaida, which was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1999; 

Whereas, prior to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the 

United States, the Afghan Taliban provided a safe haven 

for Al-Qaida to plan, train, and operate freely; 

Whereas, following those attacks on the United States, which 

killed almost 3,000 people, the Afghan Taliban continued 

to support Al-Qaida; 

Whereas Al-Qaida first pledged allegiance to the Afghan 

Taliban in the 1990s and have reaffirmed their loyalty to 

the Afghan Taliban repeatedly since 2001; 

Whereas, since the early 1990s, the Afghan Taliban have 

been responsible for the deaths of countless innocent civilians in Afghanistan, terrorizing the countryside and 

the cities alike; 

Whereas the United Nations report of the Analytical Support 

and Sanctions Monitoring Team released in June 2021 

stated that ‘‘the [Afghan] Taliban and Al-Qaida remain 

closely aligned and show no indication of breaking ties’’, 


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•SRES 359 IS 

and ‘‘Al-Qaida is resident in at least 15 Afghan provinces’’; 

Whereas, according to the Afghanistan Study Group, ‘‘the 

[Afghan] Taliban have fallen short of their commitments: 

they have failed to fulfill their guarantee that they will 

not ‘cooperate with groups or individuals threatening the 

security of the United States and its allies’ and will ‘prevent them from recruiting, training, and fundraising and 

will not host them’ ’’; 

Whereas the Afghan Taliban have continued their terrorist 

actions through targeted assassinations of former Afghan 

leaders, prominent civilian leaders, judges, journalists, 

and human rights advocates; 

Whereas an Afghanistan under Afghan Taliban control will 

result in further oppression of the Afghan people, including women and girls, and the creation of a safe haven for 

radical Islamic terror groups, which will result in the 

United States homeland being less safe; 

Whereas the threat to the United States homeland has greatly increased now that the Afghan Taliban have taken 

control of Afghanistan; 

Whereas, on September 13, 2021, Secretary of State Antony 

Blinken testified before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives that ‘‘the [Afghan] 

Taliban has been designated as a terrorist organization’’; 

Whereas it is critical that all elements of United States national power be used to prohibit the Afghan Taliban from 

using Afghanistan as a base from which radical Islamic 

terror organizations can strike the United States homeland, as they did on September 11, 2001; 


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•SRES 359 IS 

Whereas the Afghan Taliban share an ideology and interact 

closely with designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations, 

including Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent, the 

Haqqani Network, and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan; 

Whereas the newly formed Afghan Taliban Government includes in its senior ranks individuals subject to sanctions 

imposed by the United Nations and leaders of the 

Haqqani Network, all of whom are hostile to the United 

States; 

Whereas Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani Network, which has targeted and killed United States citizens, has been named as the acting Interior Minister of 

Afghanistan; 

Whereas Sirajuddin Haqqani is listed on the Most Wanted 

list of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Rewards for Justice program of the Department of State is 

offering a reward of up to $10,000,000 for information 

leading to his arrest; 

Whereas Khalil al-Rahman Haqqani, the uncle of Sirajuddin 

Haqqani and a specially designated global terrorist under 

Executive Order 13224 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note; relating to 

blocking property and prohibiting transactions with persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism) for whom the Rewards for Justice program of the 

Department of State is offering a reward of $5,000,000 

for information leading to his arrest, has been named 

acting Minister of Refugees of Afghanistan; 

Whereas the United States Government must do everything 

possible to limit the influence of the Afghan Taliban regime, including denying the regime access to all money 


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held by the United States Government, and should pressure other countries to do the same; 

Whereas the Biden administration should use all authority 

and influence to prohibit international institutions and 

organizations from distributing funds within the jurisdiction of those institutions and organizations to the Afghan 

Taliban regime; and 

Whereas the Biden administration should designate the takeover of Afghanistan by the Afghan Taliban as a coup 

d’e ́tat, and all foreign assistance to Afghanistan, including funds administered by United States Agency for 

International Development, should be withheld: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) stands with the Afghan people who are now 

3 living under the brutal Afghan Taliban regime; 

4 (2) calls upon the Secretary of State to des5 ignate the Afghan Taliban as a Foreign Terrorist 

6 Organization; 

7 (3) declares that the takeover of Afghanistan by 

8 the Afghan Taliban should be designated as a coup 

9 d’e ́tat; 

10 (4) states that the United States Government 

11 must deny the Afghan Taliban regime access to 

12 funds held by the United States Government and 

13 work to ensure other countries do the same; and 

14 (5) calls upon the United States Government to 

15 use all authority and influence to encourage interVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Sep 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR359.IS SR359

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•SRES 359 IS 

1 national institutions and organizations to deny the 

2 Afghan Taliban regime access to funds held within 

3 the jurisdiction of those institutions and organiza4 tions. 

Æ 


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