Pubdate: Wed, 22 May 2002
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Robert Pear

HOUSE VOTES $1.3 BILLION IN AID FOR AFGHANISTAN

WASHINGTON, May 21 - The House of Representatives voted tonight to 
provide $1.3 billion in economic and military aid to Afghanistan 
after demanding that President Bush devise a strategy to establish 
law and order there.

Lawmakers of both parties said they feared that the United States's 
military success could be undermined if lawlessness persisted in 
Afghanistan.

The bill, to rebuild Afghanistan and combat the production of 
narcotics, was passed by a vote of 390 to 22.

The money, to be made available over four years, would be used to 
create jobs, clear land mines, pay for education and health care, 
vaccinate children and revive the nation's agriculture.

"This recovery effort must be sustained in the months and years 
ahead," said the chief sponsor of the bill, Representative Henry J. 
Hyde, the Illinois Republican who is chairman of the Committee on 
International Relations. But, he emphasized, "the administration 
needs a coherent strategy."

The House approved an amendment offered by Representative Tom Lantos, 
Democrat of California, that calls on the president to devise "a 
strategy for meeting the immediate and long-term security needs of 
Afghanistan." The president would have 45 days to send such a plan to 
Congress.

"Afghanistan is in grave danger of relapsing into the very conditions 
of violence and warlordism that created the Taliban and attracted Al 
Qaeda to operate there," Mr. Lantos said. "Outside Kabul, Afghanistan 
continues to be a land where every thug with a rifle can set up an 
illegal checkpoint to extort money from travelers while the unarmed 
and outnumbered police cower in their makeshift headquarters."

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Delaware Democrat who is chairman of 
the Foreign Relations Committee, supports major goals of the House 
bill and has hinted that he might seek more money for security 
assistance.

"If current trends continue in Afghanistan," Mr. Biden said on 
Friday, "we may soon find that our hard-won success on the 
battlefield has melted away with the winter snow.."

The House bill emphasizes the need to provide assistance to women and 
girls, disarm and demobilize Afghan warriors, and help establish the 
rule of lawy.

In addition, American aid would be used to suppress the cultivation 
of opium poppies and substitute other crops; build health clinics; 
coordinate efforts to treat diseases; foster the development of 
independent news media; promote and monitor human rights; and recruit 
and train teachers.

Under the bill, the United States would spend $10 million a year from 
2002 to 2005 to help conduct local, regional and national elections, 
to foster development of political parties and to carry out a 
traditional Afghan assembly, or loya jirga.
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