1.This Act may be cited as the
United States-Afghanistan Security and
Stability Act
.
2.Congress finds the following:
(1)Congress supports the following elements
outlined in the President’s White Paper of the Interagency Policy Group’s
Report on United States Policy Toward Afghanistan and Pakistan:
(A)The United States
has a vital national security interest in addressing the current and potential
security threats posed by extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
(B)The United States
homeland, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Europe, Australia, and United States
allies in the Middle East remain targets of al Qaeda and other extremist
groups.
(C)At the same time,
the Taliban and related organizations seek to reestablish their old sanctuaries
in Afghanistan.
(2)Afghanistan is a
central front in the global struggle against al Qaeda and other affiliated
networks. A stable Afghanistan that is free from al Qaeda, the Taliban, and
extremist influence and ideology will require a patient, long-term, integrated
political, military, and economic strategy that is adequately resourced to
accomplish its objectives.
(3)Allowing
Afghanistan to revert to its pre-September 11, 2001, status of control by al
Qaeda and the Taliban is not an option for United States policy.
(4)Security and stability in Afghanistan is
further complicated given the prevalence of ungoverned space between
Afghanistan and Pakistan in which state control has not been fully exercised
given ethnic and tribal affiliations.
(5)The United States
will continue to demonstrate its long-term commitment to the people of
Afghanistan by—
(A)sustained civilian
assistance and providing United States commanders with the troops and resources
needed to conduct counterinsurgency operations with the support of the
Government and people of Afghanistan; and
(B)continuing to
engage the Afghan people in ways that demonstrate United States commitment to
promoting a legitimate and capable Afghan government.
(6)The objectives of
United States policy toward Afghanistan are to empower and enable Afghanistan
to—
(A)develop into
secure and stable state with a government that exercises full control and
authority over all the country; and
(B)develop
increasingly reliable and capable Afghan security forces that can actively
confront, and deny safe haven to, al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other extremists
and eventually lead the counterinsurgency and counterterrorism fight with
reduced United States assistance.
3.Comprehensive
interagency strategy and implementation plan for Afghanistan
(a)Not later than 30
days after the date of the enactment of the Supplemental Appropriations Act of
2009, the President shall develop and transmit to the appropriate congressional
committees a comprehensive interagency strategy and implementation plan for
long-term security and stability in Afghanistan which shall be composed of the
elements specified in subsection (b).
(b)The
comprehensive interagency strategy and implementation plan required by
subsection (a) shall contain at least the following elements:
(1)A
description of how United States assistance described in section 4 will be used
to achieve the objectives of United States policy toward Afghanistan.
(2)Progress toward
the following:
(A)Executing and
resourcing an integrated civilian-military counterinsurgency strategy in
Afghanistan.
(B)Disrupting
terrorist networks in Afghanistan and Pakistan to degrade any ability such
networks have to plan and launch international terrorist attacks.
(C)Resourcing and
prioritizing civilian assistance in Afghanistan.
(D)Promoting a more
capable, accountable, and effective government in Afghanistan that serves the
Afghan people.
(E)Expanding the
Afghan National Security Forces and developing self-reliant security forces
that can lead the counterinsurgency and counterterrorism fight with reduced
United States assistance.
(F)Supporting
Afghanistan in disrupting and dismantling narco-traffickers and breaking the
narcotics-insurgency nexus.
(G)Ensuring that
nations and various international organizations that have pledged to provide
multilateral and bilateral assistance to support efforts to rebuild Afghanistan
fulfill their commitment.
(H)Developing and
strengthening mechanisms for Afghanistan-Pakistan cooperation.
(3)A
financial plan and description of the resources, programming, and management of
United States foreign assistance to Afghanistan, including the criteria used to
determine their prioritization.
(4)A
complete description of both the evaluation process for reviewing and adjusting
the strategy and implementation as necessary, and measures of effectiveness for
the implementation of the strategy.
(c)The Director of
National Intelligence shall provide intelligence support to the development of
the comprehensive interagency strategy and implementation plan required by
subsection (a).
(d)The President shall transmit in writing to the
appropriate congressional committees any updates of the comprehensive
interagency strategy and implementation plan required by subsection (a), as
necessary.
4.Authorization of
assistance for Afghanistan
(a)There is authorized
to be appropriated to the President, for the purposes of providing assistance
to Afghanistan under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et
seq.), $2,800,000,000 or such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal
years 2010 through 2013.
(b)Amounts authorized to
be appropriated under this section or otherwise made available to carry out
this Act shall be used to the maximum extent practicable as direct expenditures
for programs, projects, and activities, subject to existing reporting and
notification requirements.
5.Congressional
briefing and notification requirements
(a)Not later than 30 days after the date of
the transmission of the comprehensive interagency strategy and implementation
plan required by section 3, and quarterly thereafter through December 1, 2013,
the President, acting through the Secretary of State and the Secretary of
Defense, shall brief the appropriate congressional committees on the status of
the comprehensive interagency strategy and implementation plan.
(b)The President shall notify the appropriate
congressional committees not later than 30 days before obligating any
assistance described in section 4 as budgetary support to the Government of
Afghanistan or to any persons, agencies, instrumentalities, or elements of the
Government of Afghanistan and shall describe the purpose and conditions
attached to any such budgetary support assistance. The President shall notify
the appropriate congressional committees not later than 30 days before
obligating any other type of assistance described in section 4.
6.In this Act, the term appropriate
congressional committees means—
(1)the Committee on Appropriations, the
Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives;
and
(2)the Committee on
Appropriations, the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Foreign
Relations, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate.