[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 15]
[House]
[Pages 21693-21696]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   RADIO FREE AFGHANISTAN ACT OF 2001

  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 2998) to authorize the establishment of Radio Free Afghanistan, 
as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 2998

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Radio Free Afghanistan Act 
     of 2001''.

[[Page 21694]]



     SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF RADIO FREE AFGHANISTAN.

       (a) Establishment.--The Broadcasting Board of Governors is 
     authorized to make grants for surrogate radio broadcasting by 
     RFE/RL, Incorporated (also known as Radio Free Europe/Radio 
     Liberty) to the people of Afghanistan in languages spoken in 
     Afghanistan, such broadcasts to be designated ``Radio Free 
     Afghanistan''.
       (b) Submission of Plan to Broadcasting Board of 
     Governors.--Not later than 15 days after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, RFE/RL, Incorporated, shall submit to 
     the Broadcasting Board of Governors a detailed plan for the 
     establishment of the surrogate radio broadcasting described 
     in subsection (a).
       (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--
       (1) International broadcasting operations.--In addition to 
     such sums as are otherwise authorized to be appropriated for 
     ``International Broadcasting Operations'', there are 
     authorized to be appropriated for ``International 
     Broadcasting Operations'' $9,500,000 for the fiscal year 2002 
     and $8,000,000 for the fiscal year 2003 for broadcasting to 
     Afghanistan described in subsection (a).
       (2) Broadcasting capital improvements.--In addition to such 
     sums as are otherwise authorized to be appropriated for 
     ``Broadcasting Capital Improvements'', there are authorized 
     to be appropriated for ``Broadcasting Capital Improvements'' 
     $10,000,000 for the fiscal year 2002 for transmitting 
     broadcasts into Afghanistan.

     SEC. 3. REPEAL OF BAN ON UNITED STATES TRANSMITTER IN KUWAIT.

       The Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 
     and 1995 (Public Law 103-236) is amended--
       (1) by striking section 226; and
       (2) by striking the item relating to section 226 in the 
     table of contents.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Royce) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce).


                             General Leave

  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
and to include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Hyde) for his leadership on the Committee on International Relations 
where this bill, the Radio Free Afghanistan Act, passed by voice vote 
last Thursday. I would also like to acknowledge the work of my co-
author, the gentleman from California (Mr. Berman), who is traveling 
back from business in the district and could not be here yet today.
  Mr. Speaker, the primary source of current news and information for 
the people of Afghanistan is the radio. Eighty-five percent of Afghans 
get their information from the radio. They do not have television 
there. That was banned under the Islamic law that the Taliban enforces. 
All of the televisions were destroyed. So Afghans saw no footage of the 
devastation at the World Trade Center. They had not had the opportunity 
to see what happened at our Pentagon.
  Throughout that country on September 11 people held up small 
transistor radios to their ears to listen to news accounts. However, 
the news accounts they heard are far different from those that we heard 
in this country. Throughout the region, they heard that the attacks on 
the World Trade Center were the work of the Israel Government, the work 
of the Israelis with help from the Indian Government with the United 
States trying to cover this up. Why? Why did they believe this? Well, 
they were told by al-Qaeda and others that there were 4,000 Jewish 
Americans who did not go to work that day because they were tipped off; 
there was a plot to blame all this on Osama bin Laden.
  We know that, in fact, is a lie; but they do not have access to that 
information. Because long before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 
bin Laden sympathizers waged a psychological war for the minds of 
Afghans. They shrewdly used radio to spread hatred of the United 
States, hatred of democracy, hatred of Israel, and hatred of Muslims 
who rejected their hate.
  I believe that the establishment of a Radio Free Afghanistan by Radio 
Free Europe is essential to winning the information war. Radio Free 
Europe, Radio Liberty does one thing very well. It engages in surrogate 
broadcasting, and they will operate as if Afghanistan had a free and 
vibrant press. They will counter these lies.
  The Taliban and the terrorists they are harboring use propaganda, and 
they use censorship to maintain power. They must be countered.
  As William Safire points out in last Thursday's New York Times, he 
says, ``That message that is sent should be the Taliban are corrupting 
the Koran, the Taliban and their terrorist guest bin Laden are the 
cause of Afghan casualties. As soon as the fanatic Saudi outsiders 
surrender then peace and food and jobs will come to the country.''
  I have been calling for Radio Free Afghanistan for several years, 
since 1996; and I think it is fair to say that the previous 
administration had little interest in this type of aggressive 
broadcasting in Afghanistan. I talked to the former Under Secretaries 
of State. I talked to the Secretary of State about this, and at one 
point I argued in committee that Afghanistan would pose a national 
security threat to the United States if what was happening there was 
not countered.
  If we had Radio Free Afghanistan up and running for several years, 
the terrorists would not have had the fertile ground they have found in 
Afghanistan to prepare, to train, to be funded. It is very hard to 
organize like this when you are on the run.
  I believe Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty is the best organization 
for broadcasting to Afghanistan for the following reasons: first, it 
had an outstanding impact behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War; 
second, there are eight employees there who ran Radio Free Afghanistan 
during the Soviet invasion in 1985. It has the experience, the 
expertise. It was helpful at rallying the Afghan people against the 
Soviets, and I think it will have the best chance of providing 
information that will help turn the Afghan people against the Taliban 
and other extremists.
  It is the voice of Afghans talking about the radicalism of the 
Taliban, frankly, that will be our best ally.
  This legislation will provide for 12 hours of broadcasting a day; 6 
in Pashto, 6 in Dari, the two major languages. In addition, this 
legislation provides for three transmitters to be moved from Spain to 
Kuwait. They are not currently being used. Kuwait is an ideal location 
geographically for transmission to Afghanistan. Although it is my 
intention that these transmitters be primarily used to broadcast to 
Afghanistan, they may also be used to broadcast throughout the Middle 
East or to China.
  The concept behind Radio Free Afghanistan is to do what was done with 
Radio Free Europe in Poland and in the Czech Republic and across 
Eastern Europe. When we talk with leaders of Poland, Lech Walesa, when 
we talk to Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic, they say that the hearts 
and minds of those people in those countries were turned by the 
opportunity to listen daily to a radio broadcast which explained what 
was actually happening inside their society.
  These broadcasts were able to explain and put in context what they 
would be hearing from the Soviet broadcasts. Over time we know from 
these leaders that this was the most effective single thing that 
changed the attitudes of the average person in Eastern Europe.

                              {time}  1500

  We know what happened to the Berlin Wall, and part of this was 
because they had access to information. Radio Free Europe broadcast to 
all of Eastern Europe during the Cold War except for one country, and 
that country was the former Yugoslavia. We all know the atrocities that 
have taken place there.
  I remember a young Croatian journalist telling me, if only we had had 
the type of broadcast they had in Czechoslovakia in Yugoslavia we would 
not have had the slaughter. We would have been able to teach people 
about political pluralism and tolerance and democracy.

[[Page 21695]]

  So we know that surrogate broadcasting works. China spends a 
tremendous amount of time attempting to jam the broadcasts in Radio 
Free Asia. Saddam Hussein has long complained about Radio Free Iraq, 
calling these broadcasts an act of aggression. The Iraqi dictator has 
apparently become so irked by this attempt to undermine his control 
over the media, that intelligence officials have recently uncovered a 
plot by Iraq to bomb Radio Free Europe's headquarters in Prague.
  Evil regimes like the Taliban hold power through ignorance and 
propaganda. The Afghan people deserve something better. They deserve to 
hear the truth, and I hope my colleagues will support this bill for 
Radio Free Afghanistan.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, 
and I rise in strong support of this bill.
  Madam Speaker, this is an extremely important piece of legislation, 
and I want to commend my good friend and distinguished colleague, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Royce), for introducing this legislation 
and being its principal sponsor. He deserves enormous credit. I also 
want to commend our colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Berman), for being the principal Democratic author, and the gentleman 
from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) for expediting the handling of the 
legislation.
  Madam Speaker, as our military is executing our plans in Afghanistan 
with extraordinary skill, we are falling behind in the battle for the 
minds and hearts and souls of the people of Afghanistan. It is almost 
incomprehensible that our values should be challenged and questioned by 
the barbaric nihilists of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban leadership. I 
support this legislation because it is evident that we need to increase 
dramatically our public diplomacy not just in Afghanistan but across 
the Muslim world.
  The Middle East Broadcasting initiative, announced by the 
administration, and Radio Free Afghanistan, established by this 
legislation, introduced by the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce), 
are two important initiatives that will help us reach tens of millions 
of Muslims to provide fair, accurate, dependable information about the 
United States, our values and our policies.
  I remember well during the Second World War how powerful it was to 
listen to the British Broadcasting Corporation and the American Voice 
of Freedom as a counterweight to the vicious propaganda of Hitler and 
Goebbels. We are in a somewhat similar fight, confronting a 
totalitarian, nihilistic, barbarian enemy that is ready to resort to 
nonstop lies and distortions to make their case.
  We must do much more than just pass this legislation, Madam Speaker, 
to reach the disaffected youth in the Middle East, in Central Asia, but 
also in Africa, East Asia, and across the globe. We must intensify all 
of our Voice of America broadcasting, and the broadcasting of Free Asia 
and Free Afghanistan, and we must increase our educational and cultural 
programs. We must come up with new and innovative ways to reach the 
young people who live on the outer fringes of all these societies. 
Marginalized youth who live without hope and without opportunity grow 
up into hate-filled men and women who choose to bring death and 
destruction to themselves and to those around them.
  H.R. 2998 is an important piece of legislation and moves us in the 
right direction of presenting the case of freedom and truth in 
Afghanistan. I strongly urge all of my colleagues to support it.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume 
to express my appreciation to the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Lantos), the ranking member of the House Committee on International 
Relations, who is a strong supporter of public diplomacy based upon his 
own unique experiences. I look forward to continuing to work with him 
in the future in doing more in this critical area, and I thank him for 
the focus he has brought to this.
  Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend.
  Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. English).
  Mr. ENGLISH. Madam Speaker, I would like to publicly thank both 
gentlemen from California for their excellent efforts in this area.
  Madam Speaker, Shakespeare wrote ``Time's glory is to calm contending 
kings, to unmask falsehood, and bring truth to light.'' The truth is a 
powerful foundation for freedom, and it is a powerful weapon on behalf 
of freedom. I propose that we enlist it in the current conflict in 
Afghanistan.
  That is why I rise in strong support of H.R. 2998, the Radio Free 
Afghanistan Act. As a cosponsor of this legislation, I recognize the 
need to counter the negative propaganda that the Taliban government is 
force-feeding the Afghan people. We must let the Afghan people know the 
truth about the war we are fighting and what the United States is 
prepared to do to help them as innocent victims of the Taliban regime.
  The people need to know the truth about the cause and effect of 
harboring the agents of terrorism. The people of Afghanistan are not 
hearing our message, but instead are being filled with the lies of the 
Taliban. This has to stop. We must let them know that the war we are 
fighting is not with them, but rather with the Taliban, who have been 
systematically stripping away the common individual's liberties since 
they came to power.
  During the Cold War, as the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) 
noted, similar radio broadcasts spread information and ideas, including 
the presentation of the democratic ideal, which proved fatal to the 
Eastern Bloc. I believe this same tool can be devastating to the 
Taliban. These radio broadcasts are absolutely essential to this 
freedom struggle.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the spread of truth and 
vote in favor of this legislation, because, as we know, only the truth 
shall set us free.
  Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Kirk).
  Mr. KIRK. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the bill, 
H.R. 2998, authored by the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce), 
recreating Radio Free Afghanistan.
  Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty previously broadcast to Afghanistan 
from 1985 to the end of fiscal year 1993. Although it broadcast to 
Afghanistan during the last half of the Soviet-Afghan war, RFE/RL had 
been reporting on the war and its happenings in Afghanistan since the 
1979 invasion through its other services in Russian, Turkmen, Tajik, 
and Uzbek.
  Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has a 50-year-plus history of 
delivering accurate and timely information to areas that would not 
otherwise receive it. The creation of Radio Free Asia in the 1990s 
built on this tradition. Currently, Afghans are in desperate need of 
access to this information.
  Although RFE/RL is currently not broadcasting into Afghanistan, it is 
providing vital information about the war through its other services to 
other countries in the region. One example can be found in the case of 
Afghan resistance general Abdurashid Dustom. Recently, Russian TV 
programs reported the killing of this prominent anti- Taliban general. 
The reports were picked up by media in various Central Asian countries 
and broadcast throughout the region. Just 2 hours after the first 
Russian report, RFE/RL's Tajik service aired an interview with General 
Dustom himself, denying the false reports. Subsequently, RFE/RL's 
Turkmen, Uzbek, and Persian services also broadcast the interview.
  A 1999 study conducted by the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, 
concluded that 80 percent of Afghan men listen to the Voice of America. 
The need to provide these men with accurate information from their 
country and around the world has never been greater.
  I also want to thank the Czech people for their decision to host RFE/
RL in

[[Page 21696]]

Central Europe. Building on Vaclav Havel's experience as a prisoner of 
conscience listening to Radio Liberty underscores the value of this 
service.
  Unlike BBC World Service and other radios, RFE/RL provides unbiased 
news about unfree societies in their own language about their own 
society. The difference is key and the service is invaluable.
  I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) for 
introducing this bill, and also the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), 
the chairman, and Congress' hero on human rights, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Lantos) for bringing it to the floor today. This is one 
of the many tools we will need to fight terrorism around the globe, and 
arming citizens with the truth is the best way to bring about change, 
victory and reducing American casualties.
  Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I want to thank my colleagues for their support. Now, some might 
question whether broadcasts to this part of the world would really make 
that much of a difference. I suggest that if done right, these 
broadcasts would make a profound difference in our war on terrorism, 
and I want to give an example.
  Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that on the streets of 
Tehran in Iraq, young people, Iranians born after the revolution of 
Ayatollah Khomeini and fed up with extreme theocracy, are in the 
streets, in the streets last night, chanting ``We love the USA.'' Yes, 
``We love the USA.'' That is what was occurring in the streets in Iran. 
And these young people, because they want freedom, are our allies and 
our friends. The hard-line mullahs, who have run on the ``America is 
the great Satan'' line for years, are deadly fearful of these 
rumblings.
  What is being credited with prompting these expressions is a message 
of freedom that is being sent by a private television station in Los 
Angeles, run by Iranian expatriates. These broadcasts are challenging 
the power of the repressive theocracy, the power of the mullahs who 
would control every aspect of Iranian lives. And these broadcasts are 
speaking to Iranian women's desires to play a role in modern society. 
These and other broadcasts are revolutionary and, in this case, it is 
an Iranian revolution in America's favor.
  Now, Iran is not Afghanistan, that is true, but there are parallels, 
and what is the same is the power of ideas, the urge for freedom and 
for individual dignity. That is the desire that Radio Free Afghanistan 
will be able to bolster, which will significantly aid our war against 
terrorism. And that is why I urge my colleagues to pass this 
legislation and why I urge final passage of the bill.
  Mr. GILMAN. Madam Speaker, I want to commend Committee Chairman Hyde 
for bringing this bill before the House and I commend Subcommittee 
Chairman Royce for crafting this important initiative.
  For the past several years, the people of Afghanistan have been 
manipulated by foreign forces who are motivated by selfish evil 
intentions. Saudi Arabia, along with Pakistan, have created a radical 
Islamic fundamentalist movement in Afghanistan which threatens 
international stability. While we work to ensure that the governments 
of those two countries permanently change their policy, the only way 
that the world will be safe from the disaster that they have created is 
by helping the Afghan people to liberate themselves from the Taliban 
and bin Laden, and to give them the tools to put together a broad based 
representative form of government.
  For the past several years, members of our Committee have been 
working with the former King and the Northern Alliance to ensure that 
our government support the Afghan people's desire for a free and 
democratic Afghanistan. A Radio Free Afghanistan can play a significant 
role in this endeavor. Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to support 
this measure.
  Mr. HOEFFEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 
2998, the ``Radio Free Afghanistan Act.'' I would first like to thank 
my House International Relations Committee colleagues, Ed Royce and 
Howard Berman, for their hard work in introducing this important piece 
of legislation, and to acknowledge their commitment to free speech and 
freedom in Afghanistan.
  The importance of the Radio Free Afghanistan Act should not be 
underestimated. Under this bill, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty would 
expand to create Radio Free Afghanistan. Radio Free Europe/Radio 
Liberty has effectively developed over the past 50 years the 
``surrogate broadcasting'' concept of local, regional and international 
news in native languages in countries that do not enjoy freedom of the 
press.
  The principle of broadcasting news and factual information free of 
the propaganda of repressive states is well established. Bringing the 
truth of the Taliban's actions to the Afghan people would continue a 
long-held tradition of bringing the voice of liberty and personal 
freedom to people around the world.
  The Radio Free Afghanistan Act would simply allow the Afghan people 
to learn the hard-hitting truth about what is happening in their own 
country. As we all know, knowledge is power.
  In the war against terrorism, we must blanket the people of 
Afghanistan with the voice of freedom, truth and democracy as we 
blanket the Taliban with bombs. I strongly urge my colleagues to 
support this vitally important piece of legislation.
  Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Biggert). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2998, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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