16 October 2003
Lawmakers Express Support for Supplemental $800 Million for Afghanistan
Failure in Afghanistan "not an option," State Department official says
By Anthony Kujawa
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- U.S. lawmakers expressed support for the Bush administration's $800 million supplemental budget request for Afghanistan, urging a more robust approach to improve security, accelerate reconstruction and advance democracy.
Testifying before an October 16 House International Relations Committee hearing on reconstruction issues in Afghanistan, officials from the U.S. Agency from International Development, the State Department and Defense Department outlined U.S. programs to accelerate reconstruction progress.
State Department Coordinator for Afghanistan William B. Taylor told the committee the president's initiative to accelerate progress called for "new funds, new people and new focus."
"Failure is not an option in Afghanistan, but it is still possible," said Taylor urging the committee to support supplemental funds for Afghanistan.
"There is no question that the challenges are daunting and that much remains to be done. But it is equally true that we have much to build on, and we have the Afghan people on our side and on the side of their many friends in the international community," he said.
"Afghans are eager to turn a new page in their troubled history," added Taylor.
In opening remarks, Committee Chairman Henry J. Hyde of Illinois said the committee hopes the supplemental funding "will support the Afghan government in meeting the benchmarks in the Bonn process by giving it the assistance Afghans need to determine freely their own political future."
Representative Tom Lantos, ranking democrat from California, called the $800 million in the supplemental "a good step," but warned, "a single step will not complete the journey."
"Financial pledges and delivery of long-term aid by international donors are woefully inadequate," said Lantos, urging the Bush administration to secure greater commitments from NATO members to contribute troops to Afghanistan.
Taylor said that the supplemental appropriation request for $800 million will be augmented by $390 million that is being reprogrammed from existing State Department and Defense Department resources for a total of $1.2 billion in funds that will be committed by June 2004. Over half of the package is devoted to security, about 30 percent is for reconstruction assistance and 20 percent is for democracy and governance programs, including support for elections and the Constitutional Loya Jirga, he said.
This money, explained Taylor, is in addition to the over $900 million of appropriated funds for Afghanistan in fiscal year 2003 for developmental, reconstruction and humanitarian needs.
"We are at a defining moment in Afghanistan," Taylor told the committee. "Our success in consolidating and building on the progress to date will have lasting implications for Afghans and Americans alike," said Taylor.
Charging that security challenges have made it difficult to deliver efficient and effective reconstruction assistance in many parts of Afghanistan, lawmakers pressed administration officials to outline their plans to improve the security in Afghanistan.
Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Peter W. Rodman, also testifying before the committee, described U.S. efforts to train an Afghan National Army (ANA), a national police force, border and highway policy. Rodman said that eleven ANA battalions have now graduated from the Kabul Military Training Center and that next year the U.S. plans to accelerate training from 6,000 people a year to 10,000.
In addition to training this multi-ethnic national army, Taylor said, U.S. assistance to Afghan police will enable: training of 18,000 additional national police by mid-2004; training and equipment for 4,000 members of a new Afghan Border Police force, a 12,000-strong force that will help the Afghan government combat drug trafficking and terrorist infiltration; and fund a new 2,600-person highway patrol to protect commerce and travelers on Afghanistan's roads and end the unapproved tolling stations that are financing private militias.
"Strengthening Afghan security institutions is the single most important step we can take in extending the reach and authority of the central government," Taylor told the committee.
"Afghanistan's legitimate leaders must have the capacity to fill the security vacuum now being filled by local militia leaders and their forces," he said.
Chairman Hyde called the October 13 unanimous adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1510, which widens the mandate of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, approving expansion of the force beyond Kabul to help maintain security in the provinces "a positive step." The previous mandate only allowed ISAF to provide security in Kabul and its environs.
But Representative Lantos called for more international security cooperation. "The notion that five thousand NATO troops is sufficient to provide security is absurd," said Lantos.
"NATO should at least double the size of the international security force in Afghanistan, increase its mobility and expand its mandate to provide security along major highways," he said.
Rodman told the lawmakers the supplemental request provides an opportunity for the United States to "reaffirm and strengthen its commitment" to Afghanistan.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2003&m=October&x=20031016193032awajuka0.9079706&t=usinfo/wf-latest.html
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