The first Afghan-American elected representative to the U.S. Congress, Aisha Wahab, has called on Washington to engage diplomatically with the Taliban government in Afghanistan. She said the United States should maintain relations and diplomacy regardless of which group is in power.
Speaking to the left-leaning program Democracy Now!, Wahab said: “The United States should turn to diplomacy. Regardless of which group is in power, we should practice diplomacy and maintain relations.
“I hope we can guide them (the Taliban) toward a better path in terms of human rights, women’s rights and civil rights.”
At the same time, in her initial remarks on Afghanistan after being elected to Congress, she strongly criticized the situation of women and girls in the country.
Wahab said that as an Afghan-American who is proud of her culture and heritage, seeing the current situation in Afghanistan is disappointing to her.
Wahab, who currently serves as a member of the California State Senate, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in a special election held last Tuesday.
She is the first Afghan-American representative in the U.S. Congress and has taken the seat of a representative who resigned from office in early 2026.
Wahab also emphasized Afghanistan’s geopolitical and economic importance, saying that the landlocked country is situated among various regional powers and possesses significant natural resources. According to her, the United States should at least have a role in economic contracts and cooperation with Afghanistan, while Afghanistan also needs other allies.
