[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 156 (Tuesday, November 13, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S11720]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BROWNBACK:
  S. 1675. A bill to authorize the President to reduce or suspend 
duties on textiles and textile products made in Pakistan until December 
31, 2004; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. Madam President, today I rise to introduce the 
Pakistan Emergency Economic Development and Trade Support Act. This 
legislation will provide the President with the authority to reduce or 
suspend any existing duty on imports of textiles and textile products 
that are produced or manufactured in Pakistan. This Act is vitally 
important to shore up the economic strength of our strategic ally, 
Pakistan, so central to our Nation's ability to continue to prosecute 
the war against terrorism.
  Currently, Pakistan is providing invaluable basing rights and 
intelligence assistance to the United States as we continue to degrade 
and dismantle the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Taking this action 
against the Taliban is crucial if we are to successfully locate and 
destroy Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network, which the Taliban 
is currently harboring within Afghanistan's borders. Al Qaeda continues 
to represent public enemy number one in the war against terrorism.
  Pakistan's bold stand against terror alongside the United States is 
not made in a vacuum. There are very real economic and social 
consequences in Pakistan for assisting the United States in our war 
effort, and it would be a failure of United States foreign policy not 
to pursue the means of assisting our ally in its time of need.
  Textiles and textile products are Pakistan's main export. As a result 
of the war effort, invaluable orders for textile products made and 
exported by Pakistan have been canceled due to perceived instability in 
the region and a lack of confidence that such orders will ultimately be 
delivered. According to the Pakistan Textile and Apparel Group, 
Pakistan has witnessed a 64 percent reduction in orders for clothes 
that would be made from December through February by the 14 largest 
apparel factories in Lahore, Karachi, and Faisalabad. As a result, 
employment in these factories has dropped 32 percent from a year ago. 
The Pakistani government has estimated the overall decline in orders at 
40 percent. This has very real consequences for the future of Pakistan, 
its stability, and its ability to forge a future of economic prosperity 
for its people.
  As we are all aware, a small yet very vocal fundamentalist Islamic 
minority within Pakistan which has spoken out against the Pakistani 
government's assistance to the U.S., has called for and implemented 
damaging general labor strikes, and has encouraged countless numbers of 
young Pakistanis to cross the border into Afghanistan to fight 
alongside the Taliban. A further weakened economy and increased 
unemployment, the clear results of a weak market for Pakistani textile 
exports, only adds to the influence of fundamentalists in Pakistan, by 
strengthening social and economic unrest on which fundamentalists prey.
  Currently, the Pakistani government is devoting much needed resources 
to innovative and existing human development programs inside the 
country. Pakistan is spending a full 2 percent of its gross domestic 
product, approximately $2 billion per year, on a program that combines 
improved primary education, basic health care, and skills training for 
income generating activities for the Pakistani people. Pakistan's 
efforts to utilize human development programs to lift up the Pakistani 
people are central to stemming the tide of fundamentalist elements in 
our ally. An already weakened economy, hampered by years of sanctions, 
combined with increased unemployment only serve to add to existing 
social dissatisfaction and civil unrest within Pakistan. This undercuts 
the valuable impact of human development on Pakistan, makes increasing 
these human development efforts far more difficult, and jeopardizes the 
long-term stability of our ally.
  As a weakened market for Pakistani textile exports ultimately renders 
human development programs within Pakistan less effective, especially 
the primary education element, young Pakistani's are faced with the 
prospect of no education and therefore no quality employment. An all-
to-frequent alternative to this prospect is for young Pakistani's to 
attend Madrasas, Islamic religious schools run by mullahs, where too 
often basic skills and primary education are supplanted by religious 
teachings used to indoctrinate young Pakistani's into following the 
perverted version of Islam followed by Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, and 
the Taliban.
  I urge all of my colleagues to work with me to provide the President 
with authority to assist Pakistan in the textile market immediately. 
Such action is vitally important to the stability of our important 
ally, and victory in our Nation's war against terrorism. Failing to 
take quick action only strengthens our enemy.
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