Mr. Speaker, as Chairman of the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights and an original co-sponsor of this legislation, I rise in support of the Afghan Women and Children Relief Act of 2001.

In 1996, a heavy shroud was placed on the people of Afghanistan when the Taliban captured Kabul.

From that moment onward, the Taliban took the peaceful and sacred scriptures of the holy Koran and distorted them into a rulebook of terror.

Through the creation of their Department to Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the Taliban enforced a perverse rendition of Islam which gruesomely joined prayer with the barbaric practices of beatings, torture, rape, and executions.

But the Taliban’s brutality and blatant disregard for the lives and well-being of the Afghan people was perhaps most clearly evident among half of its population, the women of Afghanistan, who bear the deepest scars.

Made widows and orphans by the will of the Taliban, the same women that once made up 50% of Afghanistan’s doctors, nurses, teachers, college students, and diplomats have been made destitute, sick, and marginalized.

The Taliban further banned them from receiving any education past the age of 8, for which the curriculum was limited to the Taliban’s corrupted version of the Koran.

In the year 2000, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization estimated that as few as 3% of Afghan girls were receiving primary education.

The Gender Advisor to the UN system in Afghanistan further reported that female literacy was approximately 4% versus 30% for males.

Women in Afghanistan were further alienated by the denial of proper medical treatment. They could only be treated by male physicians in certain hospitals, and when allowed to be treated, the male doctor was prohibited from examining her unless she was fully clothed in Taliban-approved garb. Further, the doctor could not touch her, thus limiting the possibility of any medical diagnosis or meaningful treatment.

Throughout, the indomitable will and courage of Afghan women have helped them endure the most deplorable of circumstances.

And while the end of the Taliban’s oppressive rule is now palpable, the struggle of Afghan women to save themselves and their children from disease and starvation; their hope for a future of peace, freedom, and democracy, continues.

How can we discuss the future of Afghanistan without first addressing the humanitarian crisis which engulfs its people? We cannot.

How can we talk about reconstruction when half of its population – its women – have been marginalized and when many of its future leaders – the children of Afghanistan – barely survive past the age of 5?

This bill seeks to address these grave concerns.

The legislation before you today is about helping to save lives by focusing U.S. assistance on providing basic medical care to the women and children inside Afghanistan and those living in refugee camps outside their beleaguered country.

This bill is about helping to secure a future of hope and prosperity for women and children by calling on the President to provide educational assistance for these two critical sectors of Afghan society.

It lays the groundwork for democratic principles, as it requires the protection and promotion of human rights for all the people of Afghanistan.

It builds upon the ingenuity and courage of the Afghan population by recommending that indigenous institutions and non-governmental organizations, especially women’s organizations be used to the extent possible.

The U.S. and the international coalition should invest in these efforts, as they afford the greatest access to those who are suffering the most.

The value and importance of using indigenous, particularly women’s organizations, is perhaps best reflected in the health sector.

In the refugee camps of Pakistan, for example, most medical assistance is provided by the Pakistan Directorate for Health. However, in cases where clinics or camp-based basic medical units are operating, women’s access is restricted due to lack of transportation, cultural restrictions on mobility which require that women be escorted by a male relative, among others.

As a result, there have been frequent complaints from Afghan women about the quality of the services provided.

Immediately, Afghan women’s NGO’s began to work toward filling the gaps from multiple angles, running small clinics and providing the mothers and their children with basic medical assistance so that they may live long and healthy lives.

This is what the bill we are considering today supports.

The legislation also acknowledges and supports the impressive work of Afghan women’s groups in filling the educational void created by the Taliban’s oppressive and discriminatory practices against women.

Several women-led organizations have established and are operating home schools to afford this forgotten and marginalized sector of Afghan society with the opportunities denied to them by the Taliban and their perverse interpretation of Islam.

Many are involved in the provision of education within the refugee context, running schools in the camps, adult literacy classes and English language training.

Indeed, Afghan women’s groups are not novices to humanitarian response activities.

Beginning with the decade-long Soviet occupation of their country, more and more Afghan women’s organizations have emerged to address a variety of needs, particularly in the areas of medical care, education, and, in recent years, trauma counseling and rights awareness.

Throughout the years, they have refined their skills and gained expertise through working in United Nations agencies as administrative staff and as implementers of assistance programs, both inside and outside Afghanistan.

Some examples include UNICEF projects, as well as refugee resettlement and protection projects with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Afghan women and the groups they lead, have also entered into relationships with international NGOs as implementers of their programs – programs such as CARE’s widow’s feeding program in Kabul; and Action Contre La Faim’s programs for malnourished children in various locations.

These are the types of activities this bill supports – activities which are vital to the welfare of Afghan women and children; activities which, in turn, will help ensure that women will be prepared to actively participate in the future of their country.

This bill is about relief and survival – about life.

As Surah 5 of the holy Koran reads, "[He who wrongfully slays another] would be as if he slew the whole people; and if any one save a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people,"

The Congress and the United States must act to save one life at a time, and by that, do what we can to help save the people of Afghanistan.

We can begin by rendering our full support to this legislation.

As we speak, delegates to the summit conference of Afghan groups are discussing a plan for an interim administration in Afghanistan.

This would pave the way for a post-Taliban government that protects its citizens and safeguards the fundamental rights of women and children.

The road toward fulfillment of this goal begins with the people of Afghanistan, where reconstruction entails educating and empowering the beleaguered population, so that they can reclaim control over their own destiny.

Under the Taliban, it was women and children who suffered the most from their abhorrent practices.

Women were not treated as people but as objects – as targets of rape, beatings, and the most brutal and gruesome abuse.

As Dr. Zieba Shorish-Shamley (ZEE-BAH-SHOW-RICH-SHAM-LEE), Executive Director of the Women’s Alliance for Peace and Human Rights in Afghanistan wrote in "Look into my World":

"They made me invisible, shrouded and non-being. A shadow, no existence, made silent and unseeing. Denied of freedom, confined to my cage."

Thus, to begin to overcome this grim legacy, we must ensure that our efforts give the necessary focus and assistance to programs providing education and relief services to Afghan women.

We must also direct our humanitarian programs to helping the children who are the future of Afghanistan.

International entities are already in place but we must also employ the vast resources of indigenous groups, particularly women’s groups, so that we can reach and help the greatest number of those who are suffering and dying.

The military success of our men and women in the armed forces have opened the corridor for humanitarian assistance to reach Afghanistan.

Further, the funds to accomplish these goals are already available under the Emergency Supplemental approved to respond to the terrorist attacks.

This bill, however, focuses our humanitarian efforts to help ensure that U.S. assistance has the maximum impact, reaching those refugees and segments of Afghan society most affected by the Taliban’s reign of terror.

It is a bill which reinforces the true essence and spirit of the United States – a country committed to the defense of those who are oppressed and subjugated; a nation of caring people who now, and in the past, have led the world in providing humanitarian aid to the Afghan people.

Let us lead the way, once again, by rendering our overwhelming support to the Afghan Women and Children Relief Act.