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“RELATING TO REESTABLISHMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT IN AFGHANISTAN” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H10644-H10646 on Oct. 24, 2000.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
RELATING TO REESTABLISHMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT IN AFGHANISTAN
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 414) relating to the reestablishment of representative government in Afghanistan, as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Con. Res. 414
Whereas Afghanistan has existed as a sovereign nation since 1747, maintaining its independence, neutrality, and dignity;
Whereas Afghanistan had maintained its own decisionmaking through a traditional process called a ``Loya Jirgah'', or Grand Assembly, by selecting, respecting, and following the decisions of their leaders;
Whereas recently warlords, factional leaders, and foreign regimes have laid siege to Afghanistan, leaving the landscape littered with landmines, making the most fundamental activities dangerous;
Whereas in recent years, and especially since the Taliban came to power in 1996, Afghanistan has become a haven for terrorist activity, has produced most of the world's opium supply, and has become infamous for its human rights abuses, particularly abuses against women and children;
Whereas the former King of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah, ruled the country peacefully for 40 years, and after years in exile retains his popularity and support; and
Whereas former King Mohammed Zahir Shah plans to convene an emergency ``Loya Jirgah'' to reestablish a stable government, with no desire to regain power or reestablish a monarchy, and the Department of State supports such ongoing efforts: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That the United States--
(1) supports democratic efforts that respect the human and political rights of all ethnic and religious groups in Afghanistan, including the effort to establish a ``Loya Jirgah'' process that would lead to the people of Afghanistan determining their own destiny through a democratic process and free and fair elections; and
(2) supports the continuing efforts of former King Mohammed Zahir Shah and other responsible parties searching for peace to convene a Loya Jirgah--
(A) to reestablish a representative government in Afghanistan that respects the rights of all ethnic groups, including the right to govern their own affairs through inclusive institution building and a democratic process;
(B) to bring freedom, peace, and stability to Afghanistan; and
(C) to end terrorist activities, illicit drug production, and human rights abuses in Afghanistan.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman).
General Leave
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H. Con. Res. 414.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the gentleman from California (Mr. Campbell) for crafting this important initiative. I wish to commend the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) for his expertise regarding Afghanistan and the Loya Jirgah process.
I strongly endorse H. Con. Res. 414, legislation that expresses the sense of Congress that the United States supports the former Afghan king, Mohammed Zahir Shah's, initiative to convene an emergency Loya Jirgah, a Grand Assembly, to establish a democratic government in Afghanistan.
During the times of Afghan national crises, it is traditional to hold a Grand Assembly to democratically consider means and methods to tackle significant problems. The power behind the Loya Jirgah is its assurance that all groups within Afghanistan will be equally represented in a historic effort to resolve the crisis at hand.
As the Taliban has extended its sway over Afghanistan, it has grown increasingly extremist and anti-Western, with its leaders proclaiming that virtually every aspect of Western culture violates their version of Islam.
In addition to restrictions against women, such as barring them from holding jobs or traveling unaccompanied by a male relative, ancient and cruel forms of punishment, such as stoning, have been revived.
The Taliban also continues to give refuge to Osama bin Laden, the Saudi terrorist who plots against American citizens and who may have been responsible for the bombing of the destroyer U.S.S. Cole.
Disturbingly, Taliban leaders, who have made narcotics the economic base of their regime, view the drug trade itself as a potential weapon. Viewing the West and the many pro-Western countries in the Muslim world as corrupt, the Taliban have no compunction against trafficking in narcotics.
The United States should firmly support this Grand Assembly process so that Afghanistan can begin again to play a constructive role in the world and so that the Afghan people can live in peace.
Accordingly, I fully urge our colleagues to support H. Con. Res. 414.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I first want to commend my colleagues, the gentleman from California (Mr. Campbell) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher), for taking the lead on this most important issue.
Afghanistan has existed as an independent and sovereign nation from the middle of the 18th century. But in recent times, under the rule of the Taliban, it has sunk to unprecedented levels of depth in all aspects of everyday living.
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Afghanistan today is the country on the face of this planet where the rights of women are least observed and most abused. Afghanistan has given haven to some of the worst terrorist groups on the face of this planet. The former king of Afghanistan, who ruled his country peacefully for 40 years, is now asking for a grand assembly, which is the traditional method in Afghanistan for settling policy issues. I strongly support this call, although the chances of its success are certainly not assured, but clearly the goal of this grand assembly would be to restore to the Afghan people their fundamental human rights; to reestablish representative government in that country; to rebuild civil institutions; to bring stability; and most importantly, to end the terrorist activities and the appalling human rights abuses which prevail in Afghanistan today.
I call on all of my colleagues to join us in approving this resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) for his strong support of this measure. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter), the vice chairman of our Committee on International Relations and chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I begin by thanking the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman) for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, as a cosponsor of H. Con. Res. 414, this Member is pleased to rise in strong support of this measure and to commend the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Campbell) for introducing the resolution.
The Committee on International Relations considered this resolution on October 3, 2000, and this Member wishes to express appreciation to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), the chairman of the Committee on International Relations, for expeditiously moving this measure to the floor and thank the minority for their cooperation.
Unfortunately, the situation in Afghanistan largely has disappeared from the U.S. Government's collective radar screen in recent years. This is despite the fact that Afghanistan has become a haven for terrorist activity, including Osama bin Laden; that it seems to have become a major drug producing country; and that the Taliban are extraordinarily intolerant toward women, minorities, and non-Muslims.
It is also important to understand that Afghanistan has been the scene of a lengthy and devastating civil war, one which has resulted in millions of casualties. In the past few days, a renewed Taliban offensive resulted in an estimated 135,000 Afghans fleeing north into Tajikistan in the aftermath of a battle where the Taliban was victorious. Moreover, the violence in Afghanistan is spilling over into its neighboring countries. Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and others are fighting armed Islamic militants who have become trained over the years in Afghanistan. To the south, individuals seeking to turn Pakistan into a militant Islamic state, a nuclear-armed one at that, are on the rise. In addition, there are stories of Afghan fighters traveling as far as Chechnya to battle anyone who disagrees with their extreme social and religious views.
There are courageous individuals who are trying to help Afghanistan find a way out of this circle of violence. A number of Afghans from around the world have looked to Afghanistan's history and are seeking to convene a grand council, or Loya Jirgah. This is a forum where leaders from around Afghanistan would be allowed to air their views and to resolve their differences. It is not clear whether this effort would succeed. Clearly, the Taliban opposes the convening of a grand council; but it certainly is a long-shot effort worth trying in order to end this violence that has plagued Afghanistan for decades.
Mr. Speaker, this Member urges this body to approve H. Con. Res. 414.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher), the sponsor of this resolution, who has a very special expertise in matters of Afghanistan.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, the Taliban represent one of the great threats to stability and peace and civility on this planet. They, in fact, represent an aspect of Islam that if accepted and if influencing other areas of the world will have a tremendously, tremendously negative impact on the peace of the world but also the well-being of women who are in these Muslim countries who would then become chattel and treated like slaves, which is what happens under the Taliban's rule.
The Taliban is anti-Western beyond belief. They treat their own people like tyrants, and vicious tyrants at that. They are engaged in terrorism against the West. They are involved up to their eyeballs in the drug trade. One-third of all of the world's heroin is grown in Taliban-controlled territory in Afghanistan. These people are evil, and they pose a threat to the Western world; but also they pose a threat to those positive elements among the Muslim world that would seek to be part of the world community and are responsible in their behavior and believe in the Western-style democracy or at least Western-style freedom for their people.
Unfortunately, over the years, as I have worked with the pro-Western elements within Afghanistan, I have been undermined over and again by our own State Department. This administration, and I really am sorry that I have to say this on the floor, this administration I honestly believe has had a policy, a covert policy, of supporting the Taliban, believing that the Taliban will at least create stability in Afghanistan. This is like the stability that Adolf Hitler brought to Europe, or the stability that prison guards bring to a prison. Yet we know that the Taliban's repression, their involvement with drugs and terrorism, is almost unconscionable.
Now, why do I say this administration has failed on this point? Because the administration has time and again undermined efforts on this Congressman's part to support those people who are opposing the Taliban in Afghanistan. My efforts and the efforts of other moderate Muslims have been undermined over and over again. In fact, this administration disarmed the opposition, was part and parcel of disarming the opposition to the Taliban, who then moved forward and wiped out their opposition in northern Afghanistan. It is a horrendous, horrendous legacy that we have to deal with now that this administration's policies have led to bolstering this horrible regime.
I would ask that this resolution be supported because it does offer another alternative. There is a king of Afghanistan who is pro-Western and a very reasonable person and tried to lead his country, where women had their rights respected under the former king. He was overthrown at a time just before the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. We need to work with that former king to bring about a democratic government. The people are not fanatics in Afghanistan. They are devoted Muslims, but they are not fanatics like the Taliban. They are dedicated people who love their families; yet they have been abandoned after their fight with the Soviet Union; they have been abandoned to forces like the Taliban.
Let me just say that the Taliban, by and large, and I know this very well because I, probably the only Member of this body now, was in Afghanistan during the war, fighting the Russians with the Mujadin, and I was there in 1988 with the Mujadin and I know the commanders. The Taliban are not the Mujadin who fought the Russians. Unfortunately, once the Mujadin had defeated the Russians, the United States walked away and we did not support the type of elements that would have created a more positive country in Afghanistan, and other anti-Western Muslim countries moved in to get control of the drug trade and to create this monstrous regime.
We need to reassert ourselves and to become a positive force for the people of Afghanistan so they can determine their own destiny through elections, and this Loya Jirgah would be the first step in doing that. That is part of their culture.
I would like to commend the gentleman from New York (Chairman Gilman), who over the years of me trying to find peace and getting rid of this horrible Taliban regime, he has been so active and supportive of my efforts, and over and over again he joined with me in calling for the State Department to provide me the documents to find out if indeed our State Department had this horrible policy of supporting the Taliban, and the State Department has not provided us the documents that we need to determine whether or not these charges are false or not.
What does that say if the State Department is unwilling to provide those documents? So I would like to commend the gentleman from New York
(Chairman Gilman). He has done so much for the cause of peace and justice in this part of the world and to create a more stable world, especially concerning the Taliban.
I would ask for my colleagues to support H. Con. Res. 414.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) for his strong support of this measure and for his kind words. I thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Bereuter) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) for coming to the floor in support of this measure.
Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Thornberry). The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman) that the House suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 414, as amended.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
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