House Passes Afghan Aid Package

Approved by a vote of 390-22, the legislation would provide humanitarian, military and economic aid to Afghanistan over four years in amounts to be determined in later spending bills.

Despite the strong approval for the legislation, lawmakers fear the aid package will do little good unless a security force is established to prevent local warlords or members of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network from undermining the interim Afghan government, headed by Hamid Karzai.

Acting on these concerns, the House voted 407-4 to approve an amendment to the aid bill, calling on the Bush administration to produce a plan within 45 days addressing immediate and long-term security needs in the unstable nation.

Senate Democrats and many Republicans are asking Bush to back an expanded international peacekeeping force to secure the country, especially around the capital city of Kabul.

“Neither we, nor our Afghan friends have the luxury to wait until a future security force is fully trained and deployed,” Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) chief sponsor of the bill’s amendment, told reporters. “I fear that a failure to do so will lead to a failed Afghanistan.”

Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), chairman of the House International Relations Committee, expressed similar concern, saying, “It is vitally important that we not flounder over there.”

The Bush administration is resisting the congressional pressure, instead pushing to swiftly train an Afghan national army and police force that can do the job itself.

Army General Tommy Franks, the U.S. commander of the war in Afghanistan, said Tuesday that he hopes to train 2,000 to 3,000 Afghan soldiers for a new national army within six months. Critics say training an internal security force could take as long as two years.

Another obstacle, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a Senate panel, is that no other countries have offered to send troops to be part of a larger international peacekeeping force.

Rumsfeld said that while the country remains unstable, “for Afghanistan, it isn’t bad.”

The Bush administration has asked for $250 million in Afghan aid to be allotted for this year. The House is expected this week to approve a supplemental spending bill to raise that amount to $370 million and many senators are expected to call for an even larger amount.