Date: 2007-06-06
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. Id like to thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for the time. and I yield myself such time as I may consume. As we all know. Mr. Speaker. after the defeat- of the Soviet Armyin Afghanistan. the brutal Taliban took over the country. The Taliban ruled that country through terror. through systematic assassination. torture. intimidation. They denied Afghans all personal freedoms and made women fifthclass citizens. They also provided safe harbor.to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. It is from that safe harbor that al Qaeda was able to plan and train for the horrendous attack of September 11. 2001. against the United States of America. Following the fall of the Taliban. due in large part to the heroic assistance of the United States Armed Forces and coalition forces from many. many countries throughout the world. the international community worked together under the auspices of the Bonn Compact to make possible what was really a wonderful. historic accomplishment. a democratically elected government in Afghanistan. In 2004. Afghanistan adopted a new constitution and held successful presidential elections. Parliamentary elections followed in 2005. Factions that once fought on the battlefield now. after decades of violence. debate and resolve their differences in parliament with ballots instead of bullets. However. Mr. Speaker. there are remnants of the former Taliban regime. along with al Qaeda. that are intent on overthrowing the democratically elected government of Afghanistan. The Taliban is using suicide bombings againstU.S. and NATO troops. against Afghan officials. against civilians. both international and Afghan humanitarian workers. assistance workers. Opium poppy cultivation and drug trafficking have become significant negative factors in Afghanistans fragile political and e4onomic order. Afghanistan currently accounts. unfortunately. for a majority of the worlds illicit opium production. As the democratically elected government faces grave challenges. we must not turn our backs on that young democracy. We must continue our support as that country moves from a brutal dictatorship to a consolidated democracy. In 2002. this Congress passed the Afghanistan Freedom Support Act. That law provided both economic and military aid to the young Afghan democracy. This legislation will reauthorize the Afghanistan Freedom Support Act through the year 2010. The programs reauthorized in this bill focus on countering narcotics production and boost security efforts to protect United States and NATO forces as well as Afghan officials and international assistance workers. This legislation calls for the President to set out a detailed strategy for Afghanistan and provide reports on progress there. The Afghanistan Freedom and Security Support Act of 2007. this legislation that we bring to the floor today. builds on congressional initiatives enacted in 2002 and 2004. and I again congratulate the leaders. who in those Congresses back in 2002 and 2004. worked so hard to ensure that these initiatives that are being reauthorized today were passed. And these initiatives now are. as I say. reauthorized in this legislation. H.R. 2466. that will be before the House today. Among those initiatives passed in 2002. 2004 are the creation of multiple programs. but this legislation calls for the creation of a coordinator role for the development of a coherent. consistent counternarcotics strategy. and to strengthen the fight against the drug trades links to totalitarian Islamic terrorism. We also insured in this legislation that initiatives passed in 2002 and 2004 continued. such as prohibition on assistance to Afghan officials who are found to be supporting cririnal activities such as narcotics trafficking. This - bill. good legislation. Mr. Speaker. This bill reaffirms the commitment of the United States to support Afghanistan in its transition to a stable. representative democracy. This bill. good legislation. Mr. Speaker. that we bring to the floor today. authorizes the appropriation of $1.7 billion annually for humanitarian and economic assistance and $320 million annually for military assistance during fiscal 2008 to 2010. This"is important legislation. Its important legislation for the fight against the international drug trade and totalitarian Islamists. dangerous remnants .of the defeated Taliban. the Taliban v4ho were overthrown. thank God. Remnants of the Taliban are festering. and they use deadly tactics against United States and NATO forces. as well as Afghans and humanitarian workers. Those people have no scruples. and we only have to remember. Mr. Speaker what they did to the Afghan people when they were in power. So they use horrendous tactics. brutal tactics without limits against our troops and other international forces that are in Afghanistan pursuant to the request of the democratically elected government to secure the peace. And. furthermore. Mr. Speaker. poppy cultivation and opium production continue to directly support insurgents. militias and terrorist groups. In the face of these very difficult challenges. we cannot allow that fledgling democracy. that budding democracy striving to be a stable society. to fail. With regard to process. our friends on the other side of the aisle. again. the majority had another opportunity yesterday in the Rules Committee to open the process and comfort with an open rule. They voted down an amendment by our ranking member of the Committee on Rules to bring this legislation forth under an open rule. Yes. they made in order all of the amendments that were presented before the committee. and thats commendable. But why not come forth with an open rule? I think that was disappointing. Lets not fail to see. however. Mr. Speaker. that this is. this underlying legislation thats being brought forward is extremely important. Its a very important piece of legislation. And by the way. with regard. again. to process. precisely since its such an important project that as a Nation were working on and theres great national consensus on the need to do everything we can to consolidate. to help consolidate the representative democracy and the peace in Afghanistan. precisely I think -there would have been no harm in allowing. as this debate proceeds. to allow any Member whos hearing the debate who has an idea for an amendment to bring it forth. Thats why an open rule is appropriate. Id like to thank. Mr. Speaker. the chairman. the distinguished chairman of the International Relations Committee. Mr. LANTOS. for his hard work on this important facet of our foreign policy and the legislation thats being brought forth today. as also the distinguished ranking. member. Ms. ROsLEHTINEN. whos also worked very hard on this legislation. and other members of the International Relations- Committee. I want to thank them for their hard work on this important issue. which constitutes. as I said.. a project where the American people. in consensus fashion. are moving forward and doing everything possible so that our friends and allies in Afghanistan can survive and defeat the brutal Taliban and al Qaeda. This legislation brought forward today is an important bill. It is of the utmost importance to our national security and obviously to the region where Afghanistan is and. of course. to the people. to the noble people of Afghanistan. as they continue their efforts to consolidate their representative democracy and achieve peace and prosperity in their great country. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.