H. R. 2998
One Hundred Seventh Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
the twenty-third day of January, two thousand and two
An Act
To authorize the establishment of Radio Free Afghanistan.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Radio Free Afghanistan Act’’.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF RADIO FREE AFGHANISTAN.
(a) REQUIREMENT OF A DETAILED PLAN.—Not later than 15
days after the date of enactment of this Act, RFE/RL, Incorporated,
shall submit to the Broadcasting Board of Governors a report setting
forth a detailed plan for the provision by RFE/RL, Incorporated,
of surrogate broadcasting services in the Dari and Pashto languages
to Afghanistan. Such broadcasting services shall be known as ‘‘Radio
Free Afghanistan’’.
(b) GRANT AUTHORITY.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Effective 15 days after the date of enact-
ment of this Act, or the date on which the report required
by subsection (a) is submitted, whichever is later, the Broad-
casting Board of Governors is authorized to make grants to
support Radio Free Afghanistan.
(2) SUPERSEDES
EXISTING
LIMITATION
ON
TOTAL
ANNUAL
GRANT
AMOUNTS.—Grants made to RFE/RL, Incorporated,
during the fiscal year 2002 for support of Radio Free Afghani-
stan may be made without regard to section 308(c) of the
United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (22 U.S.C.
6207(c)).
(c) AVAILABLE AUTHORITIES.—In addition to the authorities in
this Act, the authorities applicable to carry out United States
Government broadcasting activities under the United States
Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, the United
States International Broadcasting Act of 1994, the Foreign Affairs
Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, and other provisions of
law consistent with such purpose may be used to carry out the
grant authority of subsection (b).
(d) STANDARDS; OVERSIGHT.—Radio Free Afghanistan shall
adhere to the same standards of professionalism and accountability,
and shall be subject to the same oversight mechanisms, as other
services of RFE/RL, Incorporated.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—In addition to such amounts as are otherwise
available for such purposes, the following amounts are authorized
H. R. 2998—2
to be appropriated to carry out United States Government broad-
casting activities under the United States Information and Edu-
cational Exchange Act of 1948, the United States International
Broadcasting Act of 1994, the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restruc-
turing Act of 1998, and this Act, and to carry out other authorities
in law consistent with such purposes:
(1) For ‘‘International Broadcasting Operations’’, $8,000,000
for the fiscal year 2002.
(2) For ‘‘Broadcasting Capital Improvements’’, $9,000,000
for the fiscal year 2002.
(b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts appropriated pursuant
to subsection (a) are authorized to remain available until expended.
SEC. 4. REPEAL OF BAN ON UNITED STATES TRANSMITTER IN KUWAIT.
Section 226 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal
Years 1994 and 1995 (Public Law 103–236; 108 Stat. 423), is
repealed.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.