II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3646 

To require the Department of Defense to develop a strategy to promote 

the security of Afghan women and girls during the security transition process. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 28, 2012 

Mr. CASEY (for himself, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Ms. SNOWE, and Mr. LAUTENBERG) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To require the Department of Defense to develop a strategy 

to promote the security of Afghan women and girls during the security transition process. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Afghan Women and 

5 Girls Security Promotion Act of 2012’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STRATEGY FOR PROMOTING THE SECURITY OF AF2 GHAN WOMEN AND GIRLS DURING THE SECU3 RITY TRANSITION PROCESS. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find5 ings: 

6 (1) According to the Department of Defense’s 

7 April 2012 Report on Progress Toward Security and 

8 Stability in Afghanistan: 

9 (A) ‘‘U.S. and coalition forces will continue 

10 to degrade the Taliban-led insurgency in order 

11 to provide time and space to increase the capac12 ity of the Afghan National Security Forces and 

13 the Afghan Government so they can assume full 

14 responsibility for Afghanistan’s security by the 

15 end of 2014.’’. 

16 (B) ‘‘Transition to Afghan security lead 

17 began in July 2011 and transition to full Af18 ghan security responsibility will be complete 

19 country-wide by the end of 2014.’’. 

20 (C) ‘‘The security of the Afghan people 

21 and the stability of the government are used to 

22 judge provincial readiness to move to each suc23 cessive stage of transition implementation.’’. 

24 (D) For each area designated for transi25 tion, a transition implementation plan is devel26 oped by the Government of Afghanistan, 


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1 NATO, and ISAF and approved by the Joint 

2 Afghan-NATO Inteqal Board (JANIB). JANIB 

3 is also responsible for recommending areas to 

4 enter and exit the transition process. 

5 (2) According to a 2002 study on Women, 

6 Peace and Security submitted by the Secretary-Gen7 eral of the United Nations pursuant to Security 

8 Council resolution 1325 (2000), ‘‘the suspension of 

9 or restriction on women’s enjoyment of their human 

10 rights’’ can act as an early-warning indicator of im11 pending or renewed conflict. In Afghanistan, restric12 tions on women’s mobility and rights can signal the 

13 presence of extremist or insurgent elements in a 

14 community. 

15 (3) The security of Afghan women and girls in 

16 areas undergoing security transitions will be an im17 portant gauge of the transition strategy’s success. 

18 Indicators by which to measure women’s security in19 clude the mobility of women and girls, the participa20 tion of women in local government bodies, the rate 

21 of school attendance for girls, women’s access to 

22 government services, and the prevalence of violence 

23 against women. 

24 (4) Maintaining and improving physical security 

25 for Afghan women and girls throughout the country 


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1 is critical in order for women and girls to take ad2 vantage of opportunities in education, commerce, 

3 politics, and other areas of public life, which in turn 

4 is essential for the future stability and prosperity of 

5 Afghanistan. 

6 (5) Women who serve as public officials at all 

7 levels of the Government of Afghanistan face serious 

8 threats to their personal security and that of their 

9 families. Many female officials have been the victims 

10 of violent crimes, but they are generally not afforded 

11 official protection by the Government of Afghanistan 

12 or security forces. 

13 (6) Protecting the security and human rights of 

14 Afghan women and girls requires the involvement of 

15 Afghan men and boys through education about the 

16 important benefits of women’s full participation in 

17 social, economic, and political life. Male officials and 

18 security personnel can play a particularly important 

19 role in supporting and protecting women and girls. 

20 (7) The Chicago Summit Declaration issued by 

21 NATO in May 2012 states: ‘‘As the Afghan Na22 tional Police further develop and professionalize, 

23 they will evolve towards a sustainable, credible, and 

24 accountable civilian law enforcement force that will 

25 shoulder the main responsibility for domestic secuVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:22 Nov 29, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3646.IS S3646

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1 rity. This force should be capable of providing polic2 ing services to the Afghan population as part of the 

3 broader Afghan rule of law system.’’. 

4 (8) Women face significant barriers to full par5 ticipation in the ANA and ANP, including a dis6 criminatory or hostile work environment and the 

7 lack of separate facilities designed for female per8 sonnel. 

9 (9) As of September 2012, female recruitment 

10 and retention rates for the Afghan National Security 

11 Forces are far below published targets, as follows: 

12 (A) Approximately 1,700 women serve in 

13 the Afghan National Security Forces, or less 

14 than half of one percent of the total force. 

15 (B) In 2010, President Hamid Karzai an16 nounced plans to recruit and train 5,000 

17 women in the Afghan National Police, or ap18 proximately 3 percent of the force, by 2014. 

19 Currently, there are approximately 1,370 

20 women in the ANP, or 0.87 percent of the po21 lice force. 

22 (C) Approximately 350 women currently 

23 serve in the Afghan National Army, rep24 resenting only 0.17 percent of the force. The 

25 Government of Afghanistan has said that its 


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1 goal is to achieve a force that is 10 percent fe2 male. As of May 2012, approximately 3 percent 

3 of new ANA recruits were women. 

4 (10) Male security personnel often do not re5 spond to threats or incidences of violence against 

6 women, particularly at the local level. They largely 

7 lack the training and understanding needed to re8 spond appropriately and effectively to situations in9 volving women. According to the Department of De10 fense’s April 2012 Report on Progress Toward Secu11 rity and Stability in Afghanistan: 

12 (A) The Afghan Ministry of Defense 

13 ‘‘lacks the combination of policies, procedures, 

14 and execution to promote opportunity and fair 

15 and respectful treatment of women in the 

16 force’’. 

17 (B) The Afghan Ministry of Interior ‘‘faces 

18 significant challenges in fully integrating and 

19 protecting women in the ANP workforce, espe20 cially among operational units at the provincial 

21 and district levels’’. 

22 (C) In the Afghan National Police, ‘‘Many 

23 Provincial Headquarters Commanders do not 

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1 didates and lack adequate facilities to support 

2 females.’’. 

3 (D) ‘‘While women are greatly needed to 

4 support police operations, a combination of cul5 tural impediments, weak recruitment, and un6 even application of policies hinder significant 

7 progress.’’. 

8 (E) ‘‘Although stronger documentation, 

9 implementation, and enforcement of policies, 

10 procedures, and guidance to better integrate 

11 women will help, time will be needed to change 

12 the cultural mores that form the basis of many 

13 of the current impediments.’’. 

14 (11) The United States, the North American 

15 Treaty Organization, and United States coalition 

16 partners have made firm commitments to support 

17 the human rights of the women and girls of Afghani18 stan, as evidenced by the following actions: 

19 (A) According to the United States Na20 tional Action Plan on Women, Peace and Secu21 rity, ‘‘integrating women and gender consider22 ations into peace-building processes helps pro23 mote democratic governance and long-term sta24 bility,’’ which are key United States strategic 

25 goals in Afghanistan. 


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1 (B) The National Action Plan also states 

2 that ‘‘the engagement and protection of women 

3 as agents of peace and stability will be central 

4 to United States efforts to promote security, 

5 prevent, respond to, and resolve conflict, and 

6 rebuild societies.’’ This policy applies to United 

7 States Government efforts in Afghanistan, 

8 where addressing the security vulnerabilities of 

9 Afghan women and girls during the period of 

10 security transition is an essential step toward 

11 long-term stability. 

12 (C) The Chicago Summit Declaration 

13 issued by NATO in May 2012 states: ‘‘We em14 phasize the importance of full participation of 

15 all Afghan women in the reconstruction, polit16 ical, peace and reconciliation processes in Af17 ghanistan and the need to respect the institu18 tional arrangements protecting their rights. We 

19 remain committed to the implementation of 

20 United Nations Security Council Resolution 

21 (UNSCR) 1325 on women, peace and security. 

22 We recognize also the need for the protection of 

23 children from the damaging effects of armed 

24 conflict as required in relevant UNSCRs.’’. 


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1 (12) The Strategic Partnership Agreement 

2 signed between the United States and Afghanistan 

3 by President Obama and President Karzai in June 

4 2012 states, ‘‘Consistent with its Constitution and 

5 international obligations, Afghanistan shall ensure 

6 and advance the essential role of women in society, 

7 so that they may fully enjoy their economic, social, 

8 political, civil and cultural rights.’’. 

9 (b) STRATEGY TO PROMOTE SECURITY OF AFGHAN

10 WOMEN.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 

12 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

13 of Defense, in concurrence with the Secretary of 

14 State, shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

15 committees a strategy to be implemented by the De16 partment of Defense, working with the NATO 

17 Training Mission Afghanistan (NTM-A) and Afghan 

18 partners, to promote the security of Afghan women 

19 during the security transition process. 

20 (2) ELEMENTS.—The strategy required under 

21 paragraph (1) shall include the following elements: 

22 (A) A strategy to monitor and respond to 

23 changes in women’s security conditions in areas 

24 undergoing transition, including the following 

25 actions: 


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1 (i) Seeking to designate a Civilian Im2 pact Advisor on the Joint Afghan-NATO 

3 Inteqal Board (JANIB) to assess the im4 pact of transition on male and female civil5 ians and ensure that efforts to protect 

6 women’s rights and security are included 

7 in each area’s transition implementation 

8 plan. 

9 (ii) Reviewing existing indicators 

10 against which sex-disaggregated data is 

11 collected and, if necessary, developing addi12 tional indicators, to ensure the availability 

13 of data that can be used to measure wom14 en’s security, such as— 

15 (I) the mobility of women and 

16 girls; 

17 (II) the participation of women 

18 in local government bodies; 

19 (III) the rate of school attend20 ance for girls; 

21 (IV) women’s access to govern22 ment services; and 

23 (V) the prevalence of violence 

24 against women; and incorporating 

25 those indicators into ongoing efforts 


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1 to assess overall security conditions 

2 during the transition period. 

3 (iii) Integrating assessments of wom4 en’s security into current procedures used 

5 to determine an area’s readiness to proceed 

6 through the transition process. 

7 (iv) Working with Afghan partners, 

8 coalition partners, and relevant United 

9 States Government departments and agen10 cies to take concrete action to support 

11 women’s rights and security in cases of de12 terioration in women’s security conditions 

13 during the transition period. 

14 (B) A strategy to increase gender aware15 ness and responsiveness among Afghan Na16 tional Army and Afghan National Police per17 sonnel, including the following actions: 

18 (i) Working with Afghan and coalition 

19 partners to utilize training curricula and 

20 programming that addresses the human 

21 rights of women and girls, appropriate re22 sponses to threats against women and 

23 girls, and appropriate behavior toward fe24 male colleagues and members of the com25 munity; assessing the quality and consistVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:22 Nov 29, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3646.IS S3646

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1 ency of this training across regional com2 mands; and assessing the impact of this 

3 training on trainee behavior. 

4 (ii) Working with national and local 

5 ANA and ANP leaders to develop and uti6 lize enforcement and accountability mecha7 nisms for ANA and ANP personnel who 

8 violate codes of conduct related to the 

9 human rights of women and girls. 

10 (iii) Working with Afghan and coali11 tion partners to implement the above tools 

12 and develop uniform methods and stand13 ards for training and enforcement among 

14 coalition partners and across regions. 

15 (C) A strategy to increase the number of 

16 female members of the ANA and ANP, includ17 ing the following actions: 

18 (i) Providing, through consultation 

19 with Afghan partners, realistic and achiev20 able objectives for the recruitment and re21 tention of women to the ANA and ANP by 

22 the end of the security transition period in 

23 2014. 

24 (ii) Working with national and local 

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1 ners to address physical and cultural chal2 lenges to the recruitment and retention of 

3 female ANA and ANP personnel, including 

4 through targeted recruitment campaigns, 

5 expanded training and mentorship oppor6 tunities, parity in pay and promotion rates 

7 with male counterparts, and availability of 

8 facilities for female personnel. 

9 (iii) Working with national and local 

10 ANA and ANP leaders to increase under11 standing about the unique ways in which 

12 women members of the security forces im13 prove the force’s overall effectiveness. 

14 (iv) Working with national and local 

15 ANA and ANP leaders to develop a plan 

16 for maintaining and increasing the recruit17 ment and retention of women in the ANA 

18 and ANP following the completion of the 

19 security transition. 

20 (3) REPORT.—The Secretary of Defense shall 

21 include in each report on progress toward security 

22 and stability in Afghanistan that is submitted to 

23 Congress under sections 1230 and 1231 of the Na24 tional Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

25 2008 (Public Law 110–181; 122 Stat. 385, 390) a 


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1 section describing actions taken to implement the 

2 strategy required under this subsection. 

3 (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE4 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres5 sional committees’’ means— 

6 (1) the Committee on Armed Services and the 

7 Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate; and 

8 (2) the Committee on Armed Services and the 

9 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep10 resentatives. 

Æ 


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