White House More Concerned About Lack of Women in Afghan Cabinet Than Terrorists, Tom Cotton Says

On Tuesday, the Taliban military movement announced an all-male interim Afghan government, after the organization established control over the country in mid-August. Afghan leaders, nevertheless, promised that they would “have posts for women with the respect for the Sharia laws.”

Republican member of Senate Armed Services Committee Tom Cotton claimed on Thursday that the current administration significantly plays down the situation in Afghanistan by expressing concern about the gender composition of the country’s government although it, according to the GOP lawmaker, consists of “the same gang of terrorist savages that we saw 25 years ago.”

Speaking to the Fox News, Cotton referred to recent US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s remarks regarding the fact that Taliban hasn’t formed enough “inclusive” cabinet the Taliban had promised.

"The international community has made clear its expectation that the Afghan people deserve an inclusive government," Blinken said.

Meanwhile, many of Islamist group leaders, who received posts in the new government, are on the US terrorist blacklist. In particular, Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, who was said to manage a major terror cell known as the Haqqani Network, has a $10 million bounty on his head from the FBI.

In addition, the son of late Taliban leader Mullah Omar, Mohammad Yaqoob, was appointed as Defense Minister. His father reportedly helped Al Qaeda* leader Osama bin Laden to hide from allied western forces.

Cotton noted that Biden and Blinken have been saying for weeks that we could expect a “‘new and improved’ and ‘moderate and inclusive’ Taliban.”

“It’s the same gang of terrorist savages that we saw 25 years ago,” he said. “The Biden administration seems to be more worried that the cabinet in Afghanistan is full of men rather than it’s full of terrorists.”

Cotton mentioned one of the most notorious government appointments, Hibatullah Akhundzada, now head of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and the Third Supreme Leader of the Taliban. His son, Abdur Rahman Akhundzada, reportedly died in July 2017 while committing a suicide bombing during a Taliban attack on one of the military bases of the Afghan army in Gereshk town of Helmand province.

“The ‘supreme leader’, the ‘Emir’ of the Taliban is so ‘moderate’ that he blessed his own son going off to kill himself to as a suicide bomber years ago," Cotton declared.

The Taliban announced their new government on 2 September, but the world has not rushed to recognize it. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that all appointments are temporary, adding that heads of other ministries would be announced shortly.

*Terrorist organizations banned in Russia and many other countries