WASHINGTON, 15 September 2021, (TON): The United States will be looking at its relationship with Pakistan in the coming weeks, US State Secretary Antony Blinken said, to formulate what role Washington would want it play in the future of Afghanistan.

Testifying before Congress on the Taliban victory in Afghanistan, Blinken heard from lawmakers across party lines who pushed for a harder line on Pakistan.

Blinken told the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee that Pakistan has a “multiplicity of interests, [with] some that are in conflict with ours.”

Blinken said “it is one that is involved hedging its bets constantly about the future of Afghanistan, it's one that's involved harbouring members of the Taliban [...] It is one that's also involved in different points of cooperation with us on counterterrorism.”

Asked by lawmakers if it is time for Washington to reassess its relationship with Pakistan, Blinken said the administration would soon be doing that.

He said “this is one of the things we're going to be looking at in the days, and weeks ahead, the role that Pakistan has played over the last 20 years but also the role we would want to see it play in the coming years and what it will take for it to do that.”

Blinken also called on Pakistan to deny legitimacy to the Afghan Taliban unless they meet international demands.

Blinken said “what we have to look at is an insistence that every country, to include Pakistan, make good on the expectations that the international community has of what is required of a Taliban-led government if it's to receive any legitimacy of any kind or any support.”

He said that the priorities included ensuring the Taliban let out people who want to leave Afghanistan and respect the rights of women, girls and minorities, as well as adhere to promises that the country not again become “a haven for outward-directed terror."