Statement
for International Relations Committee Hearing:
America’s Assistance to the Afghan People
Congressman
Joseph R. Pitts
November 1, 2001
Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding
this timely and important hearing on America’s Assistance to the Afghan
People. As has been clearly
documented, the people of Afghanistan have suffered brutally under the Taliban
regime. There has been a mass
influx of refugees to neighboring countries as well as huge numbers of
internally displaced peoples. Children’s
skin turns blue and they freeze to death, die of starvation, or painfully pass
on from easily treatable illnesses. Have
the Taliban brought food or medicine to these children or their families?
No. Huge numbers of families
lack tents, blankets and other necessities to survive the cold winter.
Have the Taliban provided blankets and tents?
No. Widows need employment
to earn money to feed their children. Have
the Taliban provided for the orphans and widows ? No. It is the
international community and aid organizations who have given food and medicine,
who have helped build wells and shelters.
The Taliban claimed it would make the nation a place of security and safety for the people. There has been no safety for ethnic minorities. Instead there have been massacres conducted against them. Contrary to Taliban claims, there has been no safety or dignity restored for women. Instead there is increased prostitution and more women begging than anytime before the Soviet invasion. The Taliban claim that they restored peace and security, but women were not allowed outside their homes because of security concerns. The Taliban took away women’s rights to education and employment, yet the Prophet Mohammed’s first employer was a female. The contradictions in the Taliban’s claims are rife. The tragic irony is that the only people for whom the Taliban have made Afghanistan safe are Bin Laden and his terrorists.
It is vital that our nation restore our
credibility in the eyes of the people of Afghanistan and the surrounding region.
We must tell the people of Afghanistan that even though our government
abandoned them after their war with Russia and their loss of at least 1.5
million lives, the American people have not forgotten their sacrifice.
The people of Afghanistan need to know that the international community
is clearly aware that their suffering is caused by the Taliban and this
regime’s wasting of the tremendous resources of the nation and people of
Afghanistan. The Taliban have
not provided the people of Afghanistan with basic necessities and they callously
allow the Afghan people to die. The
Taliban, in its commitment to conflict, has used the resources of the Afghan
nation for its own selfish and destructive aims.
Numerous reports and analyses reflect
that the battle in which we currently are engaged is not only a military battle,
but also a battle to win the hearts and minds of the people of Afghanistan.
We cannot let the Taliban and Osama bin Laden win the battle by
effectively spreading the propaganda that the United States will again abandon
the Afghan people. Key steps to
combating the Taliban’s claims against the United States and our taking the
offensive are increasing our ability to get accurate information to the people,
increasing our humanitarian assistance to the suffering refugees and internally
displaced people, and clearly and deliberately supporting the Loya Jirga.
Mr. Chairman, there is an urgency to
these matters. News reports detail
thousands of Pakistanis lining up at the borders to join the jihad of the
Taliban against the forces of freedom. The
fighting will not end soon and the suffering of the Afghan people will increase.
Our nation must work with the Afghan people in the short term to help
meet their basic physical needs and in the long term to assist them in bringing
stability and peace to their nation.