[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 155 (Friday, October 23, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H11730]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         LET AMERICA'S HUMANITARIAN VALUES SHINE IN AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, Afghanistan appears to be headed for a 
runoff election in the next few weeks. The United States must insist 
and we must expect that a credible, democratic Afghan government 
emerges from this political process because so very much is at stake. A 
democratically elected government in Kabul that has the trust of the 
Afghan people is necessary because it's our best weapon in the fight 
against violent extremism in Afghanistan.
  Such a government, a stable, honest government, would stabilize the 
country. It would encourage Afghanistan's neighbors to engage in a 
regional diplomatic effort. And it would be the strong partner America 
needs to deliver humanitarian and economic aid to the Afghan people. 
Afghanistan desperately needs this aid. It has seen two foreign 
invasions in the last three decades and years of political turmoil.
  Afghanistan is also very, very poor. By some measures, it is just 
about the poorest country in the world. The United Nations issued its 
annual Human Development Index earlier this month, Mr. Speaker, and it 
ranks the countries of the world on criteria such as life expectancy, 
literacy, school enrollment and gross domestic product. Afghanistan 
ranked 181st out of 182 countries--next to the last.
  That's why the United States must put far more emphasis on economic 
development, reconstruction, humanitarian aid and improved governance 
if we are to succeed in Afghanistan. To do this, we must redouble our 
efforts to bring a ``civilian surge'' of aid workers to Afghanistan. In 
fact, President Obama announced this initiative 7 months ago with a 
great deal of fanfare, but the results so far have been disappointing.
  An adviser to General McChrystal, our commander in Afghanistan, told 
The New York Times last week that ``our entire system of delivering aid 
is broken and very little of the aid is getting to the Afghan people.'' 
Another adviser said that the effort has been a ``nightmare'' and that 
``vast amounts of aid money have been wasted.''
  One of the reasons for this problem, Mr. Speaker, is the violence in 
the country. The aid workers who are on the ground now in Afghanistan 
are brave and truly dedicated. But some of them are understandably 
reluctant to leave the relative safety of Kabul and venture out into 
the countryside.
  There are several ways to improve this situation. Some American 
military personnel could be directed to protect the aid workers. The 
United States could step up its efforts to train the Afghan army and 
police so that they can provide local protection. The White House must 
also provide better benchmarks for measuring the progress of our 
civilian effort.
  We must prove that we are doing a better job of delivering American 
humanitarian aid, and this can be accomplished with three extremely 
important goals: it would improve the lives of the Afghan people and 
give them a reason to reject violence. It would demonstrate that 
America offers the Afghan people a better future than the extremists 
offer them, and it would help to remove the impression that the 
American Army is an occupying army.
  Mr. Speaker, if we want to succeed in Afghanistan, we must let 
America's humanitarian values shine through. That's the best way to 
help build a stable Afghanistan that can't be used by the Taliban or 
other extremists to threaten our security, their security, and the 
peace of our world.

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