[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 141 (Thursday, October 18, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10842-S10844]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  STATEMENTS ON SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 172--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE 
     URGENT NEED TO PROVIDE EMERGENCY HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE AND 
 DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE TO CIVILIANS IN AFGHANISTAN, INCLUDING AFGHAN 
                   REFUGEES IN SURROUNDING COUNTRIES

  Mr. WELLSTONE submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 172

       Whereas, well before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 
     2001, Afghanistan was the site of the greatest crisis of 
     hunger and displacement in the world;
       Whereas, after more than 20 years of conflict, 3 years of 
     severe drought, and the repressive policies of the Taliban 
     regime, 4,000,000 Afghans had sought refuge in neighboring 
     countries, and Afghan women have one of the highest maternal 
     mortality rates in the world, and one in four children dies 
     before the child's fifth birthday;
       Whereas the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 
     estimates that 1,500,000 additional Afghans could seek to 
     flee the country in coming months due to the ongoing military 
     conflict;
       Whereas all 6 countries neighboring Afghanistan have closed 
     their borders to refugees both on security grounds and citing 
     an inability to economically provide for more refugees, and 
     thousands have been trapped at borders with no food, shelter, 
     water, or medical care;
       Whereas 7,500,000 people inside Afghanistan face critical 
     food shortages or risk starvation by winter's end, and are 
     partially or fully dependent on outside assistance for 
     survival, and of these people, 70 percent are women and 
     children;
       Whereas the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), which 
     distributes most of the food within Afghanistan, estimates 
     that food stocks in the country are critically short, and WFP 
     overland food shipments inside and outside the border of 
     Afghanistan have been disrupted due to security concerns over 
     United States military strikes;
       Whereas airdrops of food by the United States military 
     cannot by itself meet the enormous humanitarian needs of the 
     Afghan people, and cannot replace the most effective delivery 
     method of overland truck convoys of food, nor can it replace 
     access to affected populations by humanitarian agencies;
       Whereas the President has announced a $320,000,000 
     initiative to respond to the humanitarian needs in 
     Afghanistan and for Afghan refugees in neighboring countries, 
     and much more international assistance is clearly needed; and
       Whereas the United States is the single largest donor of 
     humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people, totaling more 
     than $185,000,000 in fiscal year 2001: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved,

     SECTION 1. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON HUMANITARIAN AND 
                   DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE FOR THE PEOPLE OF 
                   AFGHANISTAN.

       It is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) Afghanistan's neighbors should reopen their borders to 
     allow for the safe passage of refugees, and the international 
     community must be prepared to contribute to the economic 
     costs incurred by the flight of desperate Afghan civilians;
       (2) as the United States engages in military action in 
     Afghanistan, it must work to deliver assistance, particularly 
     through overland truck convoys, and safe humanitarian access 
     to affected populations, in partnership with humanitarian 
     agencies in quantities sufficient to alleviate a large scale 
     humanitarian catastrophe; and
       (3) the United States should contribute to efforts by the 
     international community to provide long-term, sustainable 
     reconstruction and development assistance for the people of 
     Afghanistan, including efforts to protect the basic human 
     rights of women and children.

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, 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 4 years 
of relentless drought, the worst in three decades, and the total 
failure of the Taliban government in administering the country, 4 
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.
  Mr. President, 7.5 million people inside the country are threatened 
by famine or severe hunger as cold weather approaches, 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.
  Yet, the current military air strikes and the disintegration of 
security is worsening the humanitarian situation on the ground.
  Aid organizations are increasingly concerned about their ability to 
deliver aid to Afghanistan while the United States continues its 
bombing campaign. Several aid organizations have been accidentally 
bombed by the United States in the last week. In addition to these 
accidental bombings, law and order are breaking down inside 
Afghanistan. Reports indicate that thieves have broken into several aid 
organization offices, beat up the Afghan staff and stolen vehicles, 
spare parts, and other equipment.
  Warehouses of the International Red Cross in Kabul were bombed 
yesterday. The ICRC says that the warehouses were clearly marked white 
with a large red cross visible from the air. One worker was wounded and 
is now in stable condition. One warehouse suffered a direct hit, which 
destroyed tarpaulins, plastic sheeting, and blankets, while another 
containing food caught on fire and was partially destroyed. The 
Pentagon claimed responsibility for the bombing later in the day, 
adding that they ``regret any innocent casualties,'' and that the ICRC 
warehouses were part of a series of warehouses that the United States 
believed were used to store military equipment. ``There are huge needs 
for the civilian population, and definitely it will hamper our 
operations,'' Robert Monin, head of the International Red Cross' 
Afghanistan delegation, said on Islamabad, Pakistan.
  Another missile struck near a World Food Program warehouse in 
Afsotar, wounding one laborer. The missile struck as trucks were being 
loaded for an Oxfam convoy to the Hazarajat region, where winter will 
begin closing off the passes in the next two weeks. Loading was 
suspended and the warehouse remains closed today.
  Last week, four U.N. workers for a demining operation were 
accidentally killed when a bomb struck their office in Kabul.
  In response to the dangers threatening humanitarian operations, the

[[Page S10843]]

Oxfam America President said, ``It is now evident that we cannot, in 
reasonable safety, get food to hungry Afghan people. We've reached the 
point where it is simply unrealistic for us to do our job in 
Afghanistan. We've run out of food, the borders are closed, we can't 
reach our staff, and time's running out.''
  The World Food Program was feeding 3.8 million people a day in 
Afghanistan even before the bombing campaign began. These included 
900,000 internally displaced people at camps. Although the United 
States military has dropped thousands of ready to eat meals, everyone 
agrees that only truck convoys can move sufficient food into 
Afghanistan before winter. As of last Friday, there were only two 
convoys confirmed to have gotten though. WFP announced that two more 
convoys since the bombing campaign started were nearing Kabul.
  Complications and delays in delivering emergency food supplies to 
Afghanistan could cause rising death rates from starvation and illness 
as winter sets in. Many of the high mountain passes will be closed by 
mid-November due to 20-30 foot snows.

  Aid agencies are falling behind in their efforts to deliver enough 
emergency relief to Afghans to avoid a large loss of life this winter. 
UNICEF estimates that, in addition to the total of 300,000 Afghan 
children who die of ``preventable causes'' each year, 100,000 more 
children might die this winter from hunger and disease.
  The main reasons for this shortfall in aid are related to security 
concerns. Aid agencies have withdrawn their international staff, and 
local staff have attempted to continue the aid programs but have been 
subjected to intimidation, theft, and harassment. As the United States 
continues to pound Taliban targets, law and order in some cities is 
reportedly also breaking down. Truck drivers are unwilling to deliver 
supplies to some areas for fear of being bombed by the United States, 
or being attacked by one faction or another. Taliban supporters have 
obstructed aid deliveries on some occasions.
  Despite these nightmares, shipment of food and nonfood emergency 
items arrive in Afghanistan daily--but the total shipped is only about 
one-half of what is needed. The situation is particularly urgent as 
some of the poorest and most needy areas will be cut off from overland 
routes by mid-November. An estimated 600,000 people in the Central 
Highlands are dependent upon international food aid, and little is on 
hand for them now.
  The food shortfall in Afghanistan may result in an increased flow of 
refugees to the borders. A flood of refugees to the border would 
present a different but also challenging set of problems. Clearly, as 
everyone has said, it is better for them to remain at home than flee to 
neighboring countries out of hunger.
  There is no easy solution to this humanitarian crisis. It is complex 
and requires the international community to take urgent and imaginative 
action to boost the flow of food inside. The United States should take 
the lead in helping to devise aggressive and imaginative ways to expand 
the delivery of food. These could include the creation of humanitarian 
corridors, the use of existing commercial trading companies and air 
deliveries to airports that have not yet been bombed.
  The establishment of humanitarian ground and air corridors should be 
considered for the secure transportation and distribution of emergency 
aid. The administration should push to have some roads or air routes in 
areas of limited conflict be designated as protected humanitarian 
routes. Such possible ground and air corridors include Northern 
Alliance held territory along the border of Tajikstan, and Northern 
Alliance airfields which have not been bombed. These airfields could be 
used for a Berlin style airlift to get massive amounts of aid into the 
country quickly.
  The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that 1.5 
million additional Afghans could seek to flee the country in coming 
months due to the ongoing military conflict.
  All six countries neighboring Afghanistan have closed their borders 
to refugees both on security grounds and citing an inability to 
economically provide for more refugees. Thousands have been trapped at 
borders with no food, shelter, water, or medical care.
  I am introducing a resolution today which addresses this crisis. The 
text of the resolution states the following:
  Afghanistan's neighbors should reopen their borders to allow for the 
safe passage of refugees, and the international community must be 
prepared to contribute to the economic costs incurred by the flight of 
desperate Afghan civilians;
  As the United States engages in military action in Afghanistan, it 
must work to deliver assistance, particularly through overland truck 
convoys, and safe humanitarian access to affected populations, in 
partnership with humanitarian agencies in quantities sufficient to 
alleviate a large scale humanitarian catastrophe;
  The United States should contribute to efforts by the international 
community to provide long-term, sustainable reconstruction and 
development assistance for the people of Afghanistan, including efforts 
to protect the basic human rights of women and children.
  I urge my colleagues to support this measure.
  Mr. President, I spoke yesterday in this Chamber in relation to this 
resolution I am submitting today. I will offer this as an amendment on 
legislation to have a vote.
  I think we in America are probably as united as we can be as a 
people, especially when it comes to our horror and sadness, indignation 
and anger at the innocent slaughter of so many people, so many 
Americans.
  In response to that, a resolution was passed authorizing the use of 
force, targeted on those who committed this act, hopefully drawing a 
distinction between justice and vengeance.
  I think most of us also believe--and certainly Secretary Powell has 
said this more than once, as it is terribly important--that the use of 
force, the military action, must be as targeted as possible; that every 
step be taken that is humanly possible to avoid innocent people being 
killed, innocent Afghans who had nothing to do with the murders in our 
country.
  I worry to the extent that there are reports that innocent people 
have been killed in the bombing. I certainly worry about that. Our 
country wants to avoid that. Moreover, there is also the whole question 
of the Islamic world and how people respond to this. So, again, I will 
make the point that this has to be as carefully targeted as possible.
  But the other issue, which I do not think we have paid enough 
attention to--and I had a chance to write a piece for the Boston Globe 
a couple weeks ago, and I am going to start speaking about this in the 
Chamber more, and I think there is a lot of strong bipartisan interest 
and support for this--is the whole question of this humanitarian crisis 
in Afghanistan.
  The reports are there are about 7.5 million people who go hungry. We 
do not know how many hundreds of thousands could starve to death this 
winter if we do not get food to people.
  The problem is, though there has been a lot of discussion about the 
airdrops, maybe a half of 1 percent, maybe 1 percent at best, doesn't 
do the job. The only way we can get the food to people is through the 
truck convoys, and now not nearly enough of this is happening.
  Different organizations, the NGOs, the nongovernment organizations, 
food relief organizations, are all saying on present course they may be 
able to get enough food for half the people who need it at best. In 3 
or 4 weeks there will be cold winter weather, and we will see pictures 
of innocent, starving Afghan children. That is a fact.
  The resolution calls upon our Government to take stronger measures, 
with a more focused effort to get the food to people. That will be 
complicated. Part of it involves people who will still be trying to 
leave Afghanistan. Some of the neighboring countries have to open up 
their borders. Those people have been stopped at the borders. Then 
there are the people who don't leave. And the conditions in the refugee 
camps have to be dramatically improved.
  The fact is, the people who don't leave are the poorest of the poor. 
They are the elderly, the infirmed; they are the children. They are the 
ones about whom we all worry. There have been intermittent reports--
quite often when you try to confirm it, it is not clear what happened--
that the Taliban itself

[[Page S10844]]

has taken some of the food. Many organizations are saying with the 
bombing the truck convoys can't go through.
  I am not making an argument for cessation of bombing. I argue it be 
as targeted as possible and to avoid in every way possible bombing 
innocent people. There has to be a way, whether it is the creation of 
safe corridors, coordinated with military activity or whatever to get 
these truck convoys in to get the food to people. Time is not neutral. 
We are going to deeply regret if we don't take these steps.
  The resolution expresses the sense of the Senate regarding the urgent 
need to provide humanitarian assistance to the civilians of 
Afghanistan. Well before the terrorist attack of September 11, this was 
the site of great hunger and displacement in the world.
  Whereas, after more than 20 years of conflict, 3 years of severe 
drought and the repressive policies of the Taliban regime, 4 million 
Afghans have sought refuge in neighboring countries, and Afghan women 
have one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, and one 
in four children dies before the child's fifth birthday; whereas the 
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that 1,500,000 
additional Afghans could seek to flee the country in the coming months 
due to the military conflict; whereas all six countries neighboring 
Afghanistan have closed their borders to refugees both on security 
grounds and are also saying they can't provide for the refugees 
economically; whereas 7,500,000 people inside Afghanistan face critical 
food shortages or risk starvation by winter's end and are partially or 
fully dependent on outside assistance for survival, and of these people 
70 percent are women and children; whereas the United Nations World 
Food Program, which we commonly call the WFP, which distributes most of 
the food within Afghanistan, estimates that food stocks in the country 
are critically short and WFP overland food shipments inside and outside 
the border of Afghanistan have been disrupted due to security concerns 
over United States military strikes; whereas the airdrops of food 
cannot meet the humanitarian needs of the Afghan people--and there is 
more to it, but I do not have the time--and that the most effective 
delivery is the overland convoys of food; whereas the President has 
announced a $320 million initiative to respond to the humanitarian 
needs in Afghanistan and for Afghan refugees in neighboring countries; 
whereas the United States is the largest donor of humanitarian 
assistance, be it resolved--and this is what I am hoping to get a 
strong vote on--it is the sense of the Senate that, A, Afghanistan's 
neighbors should reopen their borders to allow for safe passage of 
refugees, and the international community must be prepared to 
contribute to the economic costs incurred by the flight of desperate 
Afghan civilians; B, as the United States engages in military action in 
Afghanistan, it must work to deliver assistance particularly through 
overland truck convoys and safe humanitarian access to affected 
populations in partnership with humanitarian agencies--that is 
critical--and C, the United States should contribute to efforts by the 
international community to provide long-term sustainable reconstruction 
and development assistance for the people of Afghanistan, including 
efforts to protect the basic human rights of women and children.

  I announce this resolution today, which will be in the form of an 
amendment on the first vehicle for a vote, because it is critically 
important for the Senate to go on record with an intense and focused 
effort because it is who we are. It is our values to make sure these 
truck convoys can go forward and we can get the food to people.
  A, it is who we are as a nation. It is about the values we live by 
and, frankly, B, it is national interest. If you have juxtaposed with 
military actions pictures of starving Afghan children in the winter to 
come, that will be used against us. We know it will be used against us. 
We do not want to see that happen.
  I am hoping there will be a strong message from the Senate to work 
with the administration, to work with the NGOs, to work with the food 
relief organizations. We have to put a focus on this.

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