[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 10 (Thursday, January 18, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S779-S780]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 34--CALLING FOR THE STRENGTHENING OF THE EFFORTS OF 
   THE UNITED STATES TO DEFEAT THE TALIBAN AND TERRORIST NETWORKS IN 
                              AFGHANISTAN

  Mr. KERRY (for himself and Mr. Feingold) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                               S. Res. 34

       Whereas global terrorist networks, including the al Qaeda 
     organization that attacked the United States on September 11, 
     2001, continue to threaten the security of the United States 
     and are recruiting new members and developing the capability 
     and plans to attack the United States and its allies 
     throughout the world;
       Whereas a democratic, stable, and prosperous Afghanistan is 
     a vital security interest of the United States;
       Whereas stability in Afghanistan is being threatened by 
     antigovernment and Taliban forces that seek to disrupt 
     political and economic developments throughout the country;
       Whereas Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leaders 
     of al Qaeda, are still at large and are reportedly hiding 
     somewhere in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region;
       Whereas, according to United States military intelligence 
     officials--
       (1) Taliban attacks on United States, allied, and Afghan 
     forces increased from 1,558 in 2005 to 4,542 in 2006;
       (2) suicide bomb attacks in Afghanistan increased from 27 
     in 2005 to 139 in 2006;
       (3) roadside bomb attacks more than doubled from 783 in 
     2005 to 1,677 in 2006; and
       (4) crossborder attacks from Pakistan into Afghanistan have 
     increased by 300 percent since September 2006;
       Whereas, on September 2, 2006, the United Nations Office on 
     Drugs and Crime reported that in 2006 opium poppy cultivation 
     in Afghanistan increased 59 percent over 2005 levels and 
     reached a record high;
       Whereas the President's current request for United States 
     economic assistance to Afghanistan for fiscal year 2007 is 
     approximately 33 percent of the amount appropriated for 
     fiscal year 2006;
       Whereas only 50 percent of the money pledged by the 
     international community for Afghanistan between 2002 and 2005 
     has actually been delivered;
       Whereas, on September 12, 2006, the Secretary of State 
     said, ``[A]n Afghanistan that does not complete its 
     democratic evolution and become a stable, terrorist-fighting 
     state is going to come back to haunt us. . . . [I]t will come 
     back to haunt our successors and their successors.'' and ``If 
     we should have learned anything, it is if you allow that kind 
     of vacuum, if you allow a failed state in that strategic a 
     location, you're going to pay for it.'';
       Whereas the bipartisan Iraq Study Group Report concluded, 
     ``If the Taliban were to control more of Afghanistan, it 
     could provide al Qaeda the political space to conduct 
     terrorist operations. This development would destabilize the 
     region and have national security implications for the United 
     States and other countries around the world.'';
       Whereas the Iraq Study Group Report recommended that the 
     President provide additional political, economic, and 
     military support for Afghanistan, including resources that 
     might become available as combat forces are redeployed from 
     Iraq;
       Whereas the Iraq Study Group Report specifically 
     recommended that the United States meet the request of 
     General James Jones, then United States North Atlantic Treaty 
     Organisation (NATO) commander, for more troops to combat the 
     resurgence of al Qaeda and Taliban forces in Afghanistan;
       Whereas, on October 8, 2006, General David Richards, NATO's 
     top commander in Afghanistan, warned that a majority of 
     Afghans would likely switch their allegiance to resurgent 
     Taliban militants if their lives showed no visible 
     improvements in the next 6 months;

[[Page S780]]

       Whereas, on January 6, 2007, Army Brigadier General Anthony 
     J. Tata stated that the shortage of troops in Afghanistan 
     could create a ``strategic high risk, a strategic threat'' to 
     the United States and ``an operational threat'' to the 
     elected government of Hamid Karzai;
       Whereas, on January 15, 2007, Secretary of Defense Robert 
     M. Gates stated that there were ``indications that the 
     Taliban were planning a large spring offensive'' against 
     United States troops and NATO forces;
       Whereas, on January 16, 2007, Lieutenant General Karl 
     Eikenberry, the senior United States commander in 
     Afghanistan, asked to extend the deployment of a United 
     States battalion in Afghanistan that was scheduled to be 
     redeployed to Iraq;
       Whereas, on January 17, 2007, General David Richards stated 
     that unmet pledges of troops and equipment from NATO 
     countries have left him 10 to 15 percent short of the forces 
     he requires, saying, ``Clearly, there is a need to fulfill 
     those commitments.'';
       Whereas, on January 17, 2007, Secretary of Defense Robert 
     M. Gates stated that United States military commanders in 
     Afghanistan have requested additional United States troops 
     for Afghanistan, and stated that he was ``sympathetic'' to 
     this request;
       Whereas the United States currently has approximately 
     21,000 troops in Afghanistan, approximately 1/7 of the number 
     of United States troops currently deployed to Iraq;
       Whereas the President of the United States has announced 
     plans to send approximately 21,500 additional United States 
     troops to Iraq; and
       Whereas if the United States does not strengthen efforts to 
     defeat the Taliban and to create long-term stability in 
     Afghanistan, Afghanistan will become what it was before the 
     September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a haven for those who 
     seek to harm the United States and a source of instability 
     that threatens the security of the United States: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) the United States must strengthen its commitment to 
     establishing long-term stability and peace in Afghanistan;
       (2) the President should not reduce the total number of 
     United States troops serving in Afghanistan in order to 
     increase the total number of United States troops serving in 
     Iraq;
       (3) the United States, in partnership with the 
     International Security Assistance Force and the Government of 
     Afghanistan, should immediately increase its efforts to 
     eradicate the Taliban, terrorist organizations, and criminal 
     networks currently operating in Afghanistan, including by 
     increasing United States military personnel as requested by 
     United States military commanders in Afghanistan;
       (4) the United States, in support of the Government of 
     Afghanistan, should significantly increase the amount of 
     economic assistance available in Afghanistan for 
     reconstruction, social and economic development, 
     counternarcotics efforts, and democracy promotion activities; 
     and
       (5) the United States should work aggressively to encourage 
     members of the international community to deliver on the 
     financial pledges they have made to support development and 
     reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan.

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