Whereas Afghanistan is a diverse country of minorities,
including Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras, Turkmens, Aimaq, Baluch, and
Nuristani;
Whereas decades of civil war and more than a century of
repression and discrimination in Afghanistan has resulted in distrust, fear,
and extremism;
Whereas supporting highly centralized political structures
in Afghanistan has led to widespread abuse, discrimination, corruption, and
lack of local participation and support;
Whereas the Taliban, aligned with al Qaeda, during their
reign of terror in Afghanistan intensified policies of ethnic retribution and
discrimination particularly against the peoples of northern Afghanistan;
Whereas the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies viewed
ethnic diversity and political pluralism as the greatest threat to their
political domination and extremist beliefs;
Whereas the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies used highly
centralized governmental structures in Kabul to collectively punish
Afghanistan's diverse ethnic communities, enforcing policies of ethnic
discrimination and retribution;
Whereas the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies, after
having brutally repressed Afghanistan’s diverse cultures and peoples,
particularly the non-Pashtun peoples, launched a global terrorist war aimed
particularly at the United States, leading to the attacks on September 11,
2001;
Whereas the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies were
defeated by an alliance of the northern peoples of Afghanistan, mostly Tajik,
Uzbek, and Hazaras fighting for their freedom and supported by a small number
of United States Special Forces and directed air attacks by the United States
Air Force;
Whereas the defeat of the Taliban and their al Qaeda
allies in northern Afghanistan led to the collapse of the terrorist Taliban
regime and the end to Taliban and al Qaeda repression and terrorism;
Whereas in defeating the Taliban and their
al Qaeda allies, thousands of brave fighters from northern Afghanistan were
killed but only one United States citizen lost his life in the North,
demonstrating that the people of Afghanistan were willing and able to fight the
Taliban and al Qaeda when they were fighting for their families, homes, and
freedom;
Whereas the vital role of Afghanistan’s diverse ethnic
communities in defeating extremism and establishing a stable Afghanistan free
of ethnic prejudice was ignored by the international community, which instead
insisted on a highly centralized and personalized form of government, repeating
the mistakes of the past;
Whereas western support for a flawed constitutional
process which concentrated power in the hands of the President including the
direct appointment without confirmation or consultation of all local, district,
and provincial officials, including mayors, governors, and police chiefs,
rejecting the basic democratic principle of local communities electing their
own leaders;
Whereas by supporting a highly centralized government in
Kabul, the mistakes of the past have been repeated, including during the
Communist and nationalist periods, leading to massive corruption, abuse of
power, ethnic discrimination, and the disconnection and alienation of the
people of Afghanistan from their government; and
Whereas nine years of efforts to build a national police
force and national military to protect Afghanistan have fallen victim to a
failed centralized political system and the widespread corruption and cronyism
it engenders, resulting in involvement of ever more United States and North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ground forces and financial resources, from
no more than 5,000 troops eight years ago to 150,000 troops today: Now,
therefore, be it
That it is the sense of the House of
Representatives that—
(1)the United States
Government should—
(A)engage in broadening the regional dialogue
on Afghanistan to include countries that have been supportive of the United
States effort to defeat the Taliban such as India, Russia, Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan;
(B)support and encourage a democratic
decentralized federal political system in Afghanistan that shifts more power to
regions, provinces, and districts, recognizes Afghanistan’s ethnic regional and
cultural diversity and promotes mutual respect, trust, and goodwill between the
various ethnic communities and regions of the country;
(C)support urgent
constitutional reform that will enable local, district, and provincial election
of mayors, police chiefs, and governors which would bring democracy closer to
the people of Afghanistan and encourage trust between Afghanistan’s different
ethnic groups;
(D)support the establishment of trained and
properly regulated regional militias as well as a national army to fight the
Taliban insurgency, particularly utilizing the natural allies of the United
States who helped defeat the Taliban in 2001 in order to enable the reduction
of the number of United States troops;
(E)undermine the extremism of the Taliban and
their al Qaeda allies and their insurgency by drawing the people of Afghanistan
back into the fight by supporting a government that truly represents them;
and
(F)actively oppose the inclusion of the
Taliban in the Government of Afghanistan; and
(2)the United States should abandon its
support for the present failed centralized system of government that has led to
enormous corruption, the abuse of power, the growing drug trade, ethnic
domination which has enabled extremism, and a growing insurgency to take root
again and require enormous, decades more commitment in troops and
treasure.