Washington, Jul 27 - Today, Congressmen Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX) sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton strongly condemning the recent abduction and harassment of Dr. Hussain Yasa by Afghan authorities in Kabul. The Congressmen wrote that Secretary Clinton and the US State Department should weigh in on this matter swiftly.

Dr. Yasa is the Chairman of Afghanistan Media and Research Center and earlier this week was forcibly taken and held overnight by agents of the Afghan intelligence service. Dr. Yasa’s head was covered with a black hood when he was kidnapped and then held in an isolation cell.

The letter to Secretary Clinton states,

“Dr. Yasa is a man who we have met several times and someone we know to be a friend of America and the Northern Alliance that played the key role in defeating the Taliban after 9/11. Media reports suggest that he was abducted for ‘criticizing government policies.’ This appears to be a case of President Karzai using his security forces, which we helped to pay for and set up, to silence legitimate political opposition and attack open journalism.”

The corrupt regime of President Karzai is cracking down on legitimate political opposition and intimidating the free press in Afghanistan. Karzai’s Pashtun centered power base, which excludes the majority of Afghanistan’s ethnic groups will not be able to endure in the long term. Rep. Rohrabacher said, “the way forward is for the US to once again embrace the groups, the Tajiks, the Uzbeks, the Hazara, and the Turkmen, who made up the Northern Alliance and who helped us drive out the Taliban in 2001.”

The letter concludes,

“the United States should stand with those, like Dr. Yasa, who share our desires for freedom and a representative democracy in Afghanistan. We cannot permit President Karzai’s regime to harass and threaten friends of the United States who support our values.”


Congressman Rohrabacher is Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Congressman Louie Gohmert is the Vice Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.

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