20 March 2002

Congressional Report: Afghan Aid Package Approved

AID PACKAGE INCLUDES FUNDS FOR AFGHAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

The House International Relations Committee March 20 unanimously approved a sweeping humanitarian aid package for Afghanistan totaling $1,100 million.

"This legislation will abet the [Bush] administration in developing a strategic approach to the assistance needs of Afghanistan," Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, an Illinois Republican, said as the committee completed work on the bill. "By authorizing a significant, four-year, flexible fund for the purpose of dealing with the special situation we find in Afghanistan, this legislation will give the administration great flexibility to design and implement a comprehensive assistance strategy in line with U.S. priorities and objectives in that troubled country," he said.

The aid authorization is phased in over four years and provides $200 million in the current fiscal year, $300 million in both fiscal years 2003 and 2004, and a final authorization of $250 million in 2005. The funding is targeted at humanitarian programs, counter-narcotics measures, democracy building, and reconstruction programs, Hyde said.

"It is not an overstatement to say that the work we accomplish over the next two or three years in Afghanistan will have a direct impact on U.S. national security," Hyde said.

The measure includes:

• $300 million from the total $1,100 million authorization for programs to protect U.S. workers in Afghanistan, train an Afghan army, and provide military assistance to any nation that helps the United States in the global war on terrorism.

• $10 million annually over the four-year, phased authorization to help organize a national assembly and to support elections and political party development.

• assistance for the removal of landmines throughout the country.

It also calls for democracy programs throughout central Asia and specifies that some funding be directed toward the Ministry for Women's Affairs.

The measure now goes to the full House of Representatives for consideration.

SENATE CONFIRMS FIVE AMBASSADORSHIPS

By unanimous consent March 20, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of Robert P. Finn, a career diplomat, to be U.S. ambassador to the new government in Afghanistan.

Finn previously served as U.S. ambassador to Tajikistan from 1998 to 2001, and has served at U.S. embassies in Croatia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. He has also served as a professor of Turkic studies at Princeton University.

The Senate also confirmed the nominations of Richard Monroe Mills to be U.S. ambassador to the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, James W. Pardew as ambassador to Bulgaria, Peter Terpeluk Jr. as ambassador to Luxembourg, and Lawrence E. Butler as ambassador to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.