GOP lawmaker: Brand Taliban a terror group

Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) on Tuesday introduced a resolution calling on the Obama administration to label the Taliban in Afghanistan a “foreign terrorist organization.”

The measure comes in response to comments White House press secretary Josh Earnest made last week, when he described the Taliban as an “armed insurgency” rather than a terror group.

“If we cannot call our enemy what they are, then how can we fight them?” McKinley asked in a statement. “It is nonsensical for the President to insist the Taliban is not a terrorist group when they safeguard terrorists, target civilians, and murder Americans.”

He argued that the Taliban meet all the federal criteria for such a designation, including posing a threat to the U.S. and its citizens.

The West Virginia lawmaker also noted that the Treasury Department and the National Counterterrorism Center have called the Taliban a terrorist organization.

“Americans deserve leaders who tell them the truth, not equivocation and misleading wordplay,” McKinley said.

The resolution was referred to the House Judiciary Committee.