[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 129 (Monday, October 1, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9954-S9955]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     REFUGEE CRISIS IN AFGHANISTAN

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I want to talk about an amendment that 
I hope will be part of the Defense authorization bill. But as long as 
we are talking about the resolution for a moment, I want to borrow from 
a piece I just finished writing. I will not go through the whole piece, 
but that deals with the humanitarian catastrophe that is now taking 
place in Afghanistan. I think it is relevant to talk about this.
  You have a situation on the ground that is unimaginable: 4 years of 
relentless drought, the worst in 3 decades, and the total failure of 
the Taliban government to administer to the country. Four million 
people have abandoned their homes in search of food in Pakistan, Iran, 
and elsewhere. Those left behind now eat meals of locust and animal 
fodder. This is in Afghanistan.
  Five million people inside this country are threatened by famine, 
according to the United Nations. As President Bush made clear, we are 
waging a campaign against terrorists, not ordinary Afghans--I think 
that is an important distinction to make--who are some of the poorest 
and most beleaguered people on the planet and who were actually our 
allies during the cold war.
  Any military action by our country must be targeted against those 
responsible for the terror acts and those harboring them. And we must 
plan such action to minimize the danger to innocent civilians who are 
on the edge of starvation.
  Let me repeat that one more time. Any military action must be 
targeted against those who are responsible for the terror acts and 
those who have harbored them. And we must plan such action to minimize 
the danger to innocent civilians who are on the edge of starvation. And 
we must be prepared to address any humanitarian consequences of 
whatever action we take as soon as possible.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a piece that I just 
finished writing be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

    U.S. Must Lead Efforts to Prevent Refugee Crisis in Afghanistan

(By U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, Chairman, Subcommittee on Near Eastern 
              and South Asian Affairs, September 28, 2001)

       The September 11 attacks in New York and Washington require 
     our country to respond assertively and effectively against 
     international terrorism. As the Administration reviews all 
     its options, it must consider the humanitarian consequences 
     of any military action against terrorist sites in 
     Afghanistan, and take urgent steps now to address them.
       Even before the world focused on it as a sanctuary for 
     Osama bin Laden and other terrorists, Afghanistan was on the 
     brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, the site of the greatest 
     crisis in hunger and refugee displacement in the world. Now 
     the worsening situation on the ground is almost unimaginable. 
     After four years of relentless drought, the worst in three 
     decades, and the total failure of the Taliban government in 
     administering the country, four million people have abandoned 
     their homes in search of food in Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan 
     and elsewhere, while those left behind eat meals of locusts 
     and animal fodder. Five million people inside the country are 
     threatened by famine, according to the United Nations.
       As President Bush made clear, we are waging a campaign 
     against terrorists, not ordinary Afghans, who are some of the 
     poorest and most beleaguered people on the planet and were 
     our allies during the Cold War. Any military action must thus 
     be targeted against those responsible for the terror attacks 
     and those harboring them; planned to minimize the danger to 
     innocent civilians on the edge of starvation; and prepared to 
     address any humanitarian consequences as soon as possible. 
     Since it seems clear that a major international refugee 
     influx will require a massive expansion of existing refugee 
     camps, and creation of new ones, the U.S. and our U.N. 
     Security Council allies should also be thinking now about how 
     to protect those camps, including possibly using a U.N.-
     sanctioned military force drawn primarily from Arab nations.
       Osama bin Laden is not a native of Afghanistan, but of 
     Saudi Arabia. Most Afghans do not support bin Laden. Instead, 
     ninety percent of the Afghan people are subsistence farmers 
     struggling simply to grow enough food to stay alive. War 
     widows, orphans, and thousands of others in the cities are 
     dependent upon international aid to survive.
       Now, anticipating military strikes by the U.S. hundreds of 
     thousands of Afghan civilians are on the move, fleeing the 
     cities for their native villages or for the borders. 
     According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, nearly 
     20,000 have gathered at one Pakistani border crossing alone. 
     The U.N. says it is the most tense border point in the world, 
     with thousands of people out in the open, exposed to 
     scorching days and frigid

[[Page S9955]]

     nights. Kandahar, the spiritual seat of the Taliban, is said 
     to be ``half empty.'' Those who are left behind are the most 
     vulnerable--the elderly, orphans, war widows, and the 
     mentally and physically disabled.
       Inside Afghanistan, the U.N.'s World Food Programme (UNWFP) 
     aid--much of it U.S.-donated wheat--is the sole source of 
     food for millions. After the attacks on September 11th, the 
     UNWFP was forced to pull out. It left two weeks of food 
     stocks to be administered by local U.N. staff, but Taliban 
     officials last Monday broke into the U.N. compound and stole 
     thousands of tons of grain. Under intense international 
     pressure, the UNWFP has announced it will resume shipments of 
     grain to Afghanistan. Yet how it will be distributed is 
     uncertain, as the Taliban has severed contact between 
     international aid groups and their Afghan staffs, and taken 
     over many of their facilities. To get needed aid in, and slow 
     the outflow of Afghan refugees driven by a lack of food at 
     home, the Pakistani government should immediately relax its 
     border restrictions enough to allow the flow of food and 
     other humanitarian aid into Afghanistan, while maintaining 
     border security.
       There is no easy solution to this building crisis, and yet 
     our government must aggressively seek solutions to the 
     critical needs of Afghan civilians. As one of its most urgent 
     tasks, the United States must do its part to shore up relief 
     operations and help to again get aid flowing to refugees now. 
     We also must prepare for an already critical situation to 
     worsen as Afghanistan heads into its notoriously harsh 
     winter. We must prepare now for huge numbers of refugees and 
     humanitarian problems in the aftermath of military strikes, 
     repositioning in the region the people and resources needed 
     to deal with it.
       The U.N. and several privately-funded aid groups are 
     working frantically to set up new camps and bring in supplies 
     and personnel to sites along the border. And yet, developing 
     a stronger response to a massive outflow of Afghans into 
     Pakistan is sure to put pressure on already over-burdened 
     camps, and by extension Pakistani resources and patience. 
     Pakistan is already host to over a million refugees from 
     Afghanistan; 170,000 came as a result of recent drought in 
     Afghanistan. Others fled earlier and have been in Pakistan 
     for years.
       The United States must do everything it can now to 
     alleviate the suffering of ordinary Afghan civilians. We have 
     agreed to participate in U.N. efforts to raise quickly almost 
     $600 million in aid funds, a number likely to grow. We should 
     be leading that effort, including by contributing 
     substantially. The U.S. and our allies cannot afford to be 
     indifferent to this humanitarian crisis, especially as we 
     seek to build a coalition of moderate Arab and non-Arab 
     Muslims around the globe for our anti-terror efforts. If a 
     humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan is attributed to our 
     military operations, it will weaken international support for 
     our fight against terrorism, and may even make the American 
     people more vulnerable in the end.

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