[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 423 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 423

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that in order to 
 increase and sustain pressure on the Taliban, their terrorist allies 
  and supporters, enable an expeditious and safe withdrawal of United 
 States and NATO soldiers, reducing the great cost in lives and money, 
  the United States should empower and recognize Afghanistan's ethnic 
 diversity through free local and provincial elections and replace the 
    present failed centralized system of government with a federal 
 political structure that ensured the full participation of all ethnic 
                              communities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 5, 2011

 Mr. Rohrabacher (for himself and Mr. Gohmert) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that in order to 
 increase and sustain pressure on the Taliban, their terrorist allies 
  and supporters, enable an expeditious and safe withdrawal of United 
 States and NATO soldiers, reducing the great cost in lives and money, 
  the United States should empower and recognize Afghanistan's ethnic 
 diversity through free local and provincial elections and replace the 
    present failed centralized system of government with a federal 
 political structure that ensured the full participation of all ethnic 
                              communities.

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 and the rise of the intolerant and chauvinistic Taliban who 
        opposed all other ethnic communities;
Whereas supporting highly centralized political structures and leadership in 
        Afghanistan has led to widespread abuse, discrimination, corruption, and 
        lack of local participation and support and anti-democratic approaches;
Whereas the Taliban, aligned with al Qaeda, during its reign of terror in 
        Afghanistan intensified policies of ethnic retribution and 
        discrimination particularly against the ethnic communities of northern, 
        central, and western Afghanistan;
Whereas the Taliban and its al Qaeda allies viewed ethnic diversity and 
        political pluralism as the greatest threat to its political domination 
        and extremist beliefs;
Whereas the Taliban and its al Qaeda allies used highly centralized governmental 
        structures in Kabul to collectively punish Afghanistan's diverse ethnic 
        communities, enforcing policies of ethnic discrimination, cleansing, and 
        retribution;
Whereas the Taliban and its 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 its al Qaeda allies were defeated by an alliance of the 
        northern peoples of Afghanistan, mostly Tajik, Uzbek, and Hazaras, 
        collectively known as the Northern Alliance, 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 its 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 its al Qaeda allies, thousands of brave 
        fighters from northern Afghanistan were killed but only one United 
        States citizen lost his life, 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 form of government built around one strong leader 
        which has led to corruption and a repeating of past mistakes;
Whereas western support for a flawed constitutional process which concentrated 
        vast 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 principles of representative democracy of 
        local communities electing their own leaders;
Whereas by supporting a highly centralized government in Kabul, the present 
        policy has repeated the mistakes of the past, 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 the government; and
Whereas 9 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 8 years ago to 130,000 troops 
        today: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, 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, shifting it from its Pakistani focus;
                    (B) support and encourage a representative, 
                decentralized, democratic federal political system in 
                Afghanistan that shifts more power to regions, 
                provinces, and districts and away from a corrupt 
                presidency, 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, containing the Taliban insurgency and its 
                desire to expand beyond the Pashtun regions of the 
                country;
                    (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 
                insurgency and its al Qaeda allies 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.
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