The United States’ news website Axios reported yesterday that the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan has registered to lobby U.S. policymakers, signaling it recognizes the need to win over key officials in Washington.
A newly formed U.S. nonprofit arm, incorporated in D.C. last week, reportedly filed paperwork under the Foreign Agents Registration Act on October 26.
It told the Justice Department it anticipates "lobbying the government, international organizations and other political entities."
The National Resistance Front reportedly seeks to be "the protector of America's 20-year investment in Afghanistan and the force to rid the country of intolerance and terrorism."
The registration comes about six weeks after the National Resistance Front enlisted the Sonoran Policy Group to "provide strategic advisory services."
Axios notes that U.S. financial and military aid could be crucial to efforts to oppose Taliban rule in Afghanistan. But opposition forces must convince the Biden administration to stay engaged to some degree in a conflict from which the president is determined to extricate the United States, the website says.
According to Axios, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) had earlier called on President Biden to recognize Ahmad Massoud, as well as fellow National Resistance Front co-founder Amrullah Saleh, as "the legitimate government representatives of Afghanistan."
The Biden administration has shown no signs it will do so.
Axios is an American news website based in Arlington County, Virginia. It was founded in 2016 and launched the following year by former Politico journalists Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz. The site's name is based on the Greek áxios, meaning "worthy."
