Several legislators and pressure groups praised POLITICO for Graham’s efforts, and the senator himself confirmed his work in his characteristic freewheeling style. This independent PR of a minority party senator underscores the precarious state of the debate in Washington over involvement with the Taliban-led government in Kabul. It also shows that, even with Trump out of power, the gregarious Graham has a unique ability to influence the capital’s political machinery.
“I want your voice,” Graham said of Saleh in an interview this week. “It simply came to our notice then. [The Taliban are] taking hostage our people. They are a terrorist group. They are a radical Islamic jihadist group. And if we give them power, it will hurt us all. “
Graham has a partner in his endurance work, Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), A former Green Beret with combat experience in Afghanistan who received Massoud on another Fox News program last week. The rush of the Taliban to cut off mobile phone and Internet service in the region nullified that appearance.
Saleh and Massoud’s struggle to survive the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is bleak. Panjshir fell to the Taliban earlier this month and Saleh, 48, was unaware in more than a week as the communication lines were nearly destroyed. Although resistance forces have not acknowledged the defeat, there are reports that Taliban fighters are running men of combat age in Panjshir, including Saleh’s brother, who was shot dead at a Taliban checkpoint last week.
There is no indication that the Biden administration is prepared to help the Panjshir resistance, especially given its faltering condition after it was invaded by the Taliban.
Launching U.S. support for Saleh and Massoud forces would mean re-entering a war that President Joe Biden has made clear he wants to get out of – and could risk even closer relations with the Taliban, with whom the U.S. needs to help facilitate the remaining evacuations. Biden has also made it clear that the Taliban should work to prevent the country from once again becoming a safe haven for terrorist groups who want to attack the American homeland.
Graham’s criticisms have long criticized the hawk senator a hot militant given his views on Iran and Syria in particular, and his efforts to support anti-Taliban resistance are sure to provoke similar blows. But Graham insists that civil war in Afghanistan is inevitable and that Biden has a “historic opportunity” to side with pro-democracy forces to give them an advantage as part of a possible political deal with the talibans.
He and Waltz are also not the only Republicans to urge the Biden administration to take a stronger line against the Taliban-controlled government in Afghanistan, as intelligence officials warn that al-Qaeda could win. land in the country after the withdrawal of the US military.
Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) spearheaded a letter Wednesday to three colleagues to push for the formal designation of the Taliban as a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department, which Graham and Waltz have already approved. Senate Vice President of Intelligence Marco Rubio (R-Florida) on Wednesday introduced a bill that would codify that designation.
“If you keep putting all your eggs in the Taliban basket, over time you are losing the game,” Graham said. “If you start helping different resistance groups, you will really have some influence with the Taliban.”
Specifically, Waltz and Graham have called on the Biden administration to provide humanitarian aid and satellite phones to opposition forces Panjshir, among others.
They have also worked closely with Ali Nazary, who recently escaped from Afghanistan, but is Massoud’s official spokesman. Nazary previously told POLITICO that some pressure companies have already turned to him looking to offer their services. Nazary sent a post written by Massoud to the Washington Post last month asking for help from the U.S., including weapons and ammunition.
As of Tuesday, Graham had not heard from Saleh for more than a week and the whereabouts of the opposition leader remain unknown. But he said he has no reason to believe Saleh is dead or has fled the country. Massoud, however, is still in Afghanistan, according to two people with direct knowledge of his whereabouts.
Waltz said the couple is actually hiding.
“His goal now must be to stay alive and keep the resistance alive with them,” Waltz said in an interview.
Alexander Ward and Daniel Lippman contributed to this report.