[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 143 (Monday, September 16, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S6043]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           NATIONAL SECURITY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, now on another matter, I have 
repeatedly warned colleagues on both sides against setting aside 
America's interests in pursuit of closer relations with foreign leaders 
who they think share their values.
  I made it clear to Washington Democrats that whatever kudos the Paris 
climate deal earned them with European greens, punishing America for 
producing affordable, reliable, and abundant energy was welcome news to 
China, the world's leading emitter of carbon, and to Russia, which 
would weaponize Europe's own reliance in due course.
  Likewise, I have urged fellow Republicans to recognize that despite 
whatever affinity we might be expected to hold for a Hungarian ruling 
party that professes traditional values, legitimizing Victor Orban's 
reckless obeisance to China, Russia, and Iran is not in America's 
interests.
  And I have been clear-eyed about the regimes with which the United 
States shares neither interests nor values, and acted accordingly. For 
example, the strategic case for maximum pressure and credible 
deterrence against Iran, the world's most active state sponsor of 
terror, is compelling enough on its own. Weakening sanctions in 
exchange for empty promises on nuclear proliferation is not in 
America's strategic interests; neither is responding to proxy violence 
with half measures.
  The only way to achieve measurable improvements to the security of 
America's interests in Iran's backyard is to change Iran's calculus. 
This is, of course, an opportunity for the United States and allies 
with common interests in the region to work more closely together in 
applying meaningful pressure on Tehran--an opportunity as yet unseized.
  But lest anyone forget, just as Tehran's export of terror threatens 
America's interests, its repression at home is an affront to American 
values. Today is the second anniversary of the beating, detention, and 
murder of Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran's morality police. Tehran's 
thugs killed another 500 people and detained thousands more who took to 
the streets in protest.
  Today, Iranian women are continuing their protest against the 
regime's repressive morality laws. Many are walking the streets without 
head coverings, and 34 political prisoners have gone on a hunger 
strike. Tehran is marking the anniversary in its own way: placing Ms. 
Amini's surviving family under unofficial house arrest.
  Further east, in Kabul, another group of medieval theocrats is 
dragging Afghan women and girls even further backward into the familiar 
repression of Taliban rule. A new ``vice and virtue law'' amounts to an 
even more severe crackdown on education for Afghan girls, with even 
tighter restrictions on women's behavior in public.
  Like in Iran, Taliban repression is not difficult to recognize as 
abhorrent, and the latest developments are an outcome many of us saw 
coming years ago. Unfortunately, they are also a shameful reminder of a 
decision that damaged American interests and a sales campaign that 
denied observable reality. Recall that as the Taliban surged back into 
power in Kabul, President Biden insisted that ``human rights will be 
the center of our foreign policy.'' Remember how the President's 
National Security Advisor declared that the administration was 
``absolutely resolutely committed'' to ``alleviate the burden that 
[Afghan] women and girls will face in the days ahead.''
  I am curious how the administration would rate the effectiveness of 
that commitment. I wonder whether it thinks its confidence in so-called 
over-the-horizon counterterrorism has paid off.
  And when the administration's special envoy warns that its ``patience 
with the Taliban is running out,'' I can't help but ask why on Earth 
any such patience would align with America's interests in the first 
place, let alone our values.

                          ____________________