WASHINGTON, 9 September 2021, (TON): The US State Department has urged Pakistan to play a critical role in bringing an inclusive government in Kabul as a lawmaker warned that the United States could re-enter Afghanistan if the situation worsened.

The statements follow assurances from Pakistan’s US and UN envoys that Islamabad, too, wants an inclusive government in Kabul and is willing to work with the international community for achieving this objective.

“We have been in regular touch with the Pakistani leadership and have discussed Afghanistan in detail,” a State Department spokesperson told Dawn on Tuesday when asked to comment on Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan.

The official added “Pakistan has frequently and publicly advocated for an inclusive government with broad support in Afghanistan and we look to Pakistan to play a critical role in enabling that outcome.”

The Taliban announced an interim government dominated by the group’s old guard, with no women included. Mohammad Hasan Akhund, a close aide to the group’s late founder Mullah Omar, heads the new government, which does not reflect the inclusivity that Washington desires.

Hours before the announcement, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham suggested the US would reinvade Afghanistan if the Taliban allowed militants to regrow their roots in a country that was reportedly used for planning attacks on US soil in September 2001.