Ensuring a Durable Afghanistan Peace Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2953 To provide congressional oversight of United States talks with Taliban officials and Afghanistan’s comprehensive peace process. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES NOVEMBER 21, 2019 Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations A BILL To provide congressional oversight of United States talks with Taliban officials and Afghanistan’s comprehensive peace process. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring a Durable 4 Afghanistan Peace Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 8 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 9 mittees’’ means— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Dec 03, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2953.IS S2953 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2953 IS (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 1 the Committee on Armed Services, and the 2 Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; 3 and 4 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 5 Committee on Armed Services, and the Com- 6 mittee on Appropriations of the House of Rep- 7 resentatives. 8 (2) UNITED STATES SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE 9 FOR AFGHAN RECONCILIATION.—The term ‘‘United 10 States Special Representative for Afghan Reconcili- 11 ation’’ or ‘‘SRAR’’ refers to the United States De- 12 partment of State office charged with conducting 13 peace talks with the Taliban. 14 (3) GOVERNMENT OF AFGHANISTAN.—The 15 term ‘‘Government of Afghanistan’’ means the Gov- 16 ernment of Afghanistan and its agencies, instrumen- 17 talities, and controlled entities. 18 (4) NATIONAL SECURITY COMMITTEES.—The 19 term ‘‘national security committees’’ means— 20 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 21 the Committee on Armed Services, and the Se- 22 lect Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; 23 and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Dec 03, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2953.IS S2953 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2953 IS (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 1 Committee on Armed Services, and the Perma- 2 nent Select Committee on Intelligence of the 3 House of Representatives. 4 (5) TALIBAN OFFICIALS.—The term ‘‘Taliban 5 officials’’ refers to the leader and members of the 6 Afghan Taliban, and its officials constituting the 7 Taliban peace delegation, including the head of the 8 peace delegation based in Qatar. 9 (6) THE TALIBAN.—The term ‘‘the Taliban’’ 10 refers to the organization led by Mawlawi Hibatullah 11 Akhundzada. 12 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 13 Congress makes the following findings: 14 (1) After al-Qaeda attacked the United States 15 on September 11, 2001, the United States Govern- 16 ment sought to eliminate al-Qaeda’s safe havens and 17 training camps in Afghanistan. 18 (2) While in power, the Taliban government, led 19 by Mullah Omar, granted al-Qaeda sanctuary in Af- 20 ghanistan. The Taliban government fell in 2001 fol- 21 lowing the United States-led Operation Enduring 22 Freedom. 23 (3) The United States Armed Forces, inter- 24 national partners, and the Afghan National Security 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Dec 03, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2953.IS S2953 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2953 IS and Defense Forces have fought with valor, honor, 1 and effectiveness to eliminate terrorist threats, in- 2 cluding threats against the United States. Since 3 September 11, 2001, there have been no attacks on 4 United States soil emanating from Afghanistan. The 5 United States has made significant progress towards 6 its original counterterrorism objectives in Afghani- 7 stan by decimating the leadership of al-Qaeda. 8 (4) The United States military mission in Af- 9 ghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom and Oper- 10 ation Freedom Sentinel) has been the longest mili- 11 tary operation in United States history. More than 12 2,200 United States service men and women have 13 been killed in Afghanistan, with more than 20,000 14 service members wounded. United States forces con- 15 tinue to disrupt and degrade the Taliban’s combat 16 operations, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Le- 17 vant–Khorasan Province (ISIS–K) and al-Qaeda ac- 18 tivities in Afghanistan, through partnered operations 19 with Afghan forces, as well as unilateral operations. 20 (5) Responding to the only Article V invocation 21 in NATO’s history, 17,000 service members from 39 22 countries currently operate in Afghanistan, including 23 approximately 12,000 United States forces. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Dec 03, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2953.IS S2953 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2953 IS (6) Afghan security forces have reportedly lost 1 more than 45,000 soldiers in battle since 2014. 2 (7) In September 2018, the Department of 3 State appointed former Ambassador to Afghanistan 4 Zalmay Khalilzad as the United States Special Rep- 5 resentative for Afghan Reconciliation (SRAR). 6 (8) The NATO Mission Commander, United 7 States Army General Austin ‘‘Scott’’ Miller stated in 8 October 2018, ‘‘This [war in Afghanistan] is not 9 going to be won militarily . . . This is going to be 10 a political solution.’’ 11 (9) In October 2018, the Government of Paki- 12 stan released Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of 13 the co-founders of the Taliban, whom Pakistani au- 14 thorities had arrested in Karachi in 2010. In Janu- 15 ary 2019, Mr. Baradar was appointed as the head 16 of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar to lead 17 peace talks with the United States. 18 (10) SRAR Khalilzad announced on Twitter on 19 March 12, 2019, after peace talks with Taliban offi- 20 cials, a four-pronged framework for peace in Af- 21 ghanistan: counter-terrorism assurances, troop with- 22 drawal, intra-Afghan dialogue, and a comprehensive 23 ceasefire. He noted that in January 2019, he and 24 the Taliban ‘‘agreed in principle’’ on the four ele- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Dec 03, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2953.IS S2953 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2953 IS ments, and that the two sides had ‘‘agreed in draft’’ 1 on the first two elements during the March 2019 2 talks. He stated, ‘‘When the agreement in draft 3 about a withdrawal timeline and effective counterter- 4 rorism measures is finalized, the Taliban and other 5 Afghans, including the government, will begin intra- 6 Afghan negotiations on a political settlement and 7 comprehensive ceasefire . . . and there is no final 8 agreement until everything is agreed’’. 9 (11) On April 26, 2019, the United States De- 10 partment of State issued a media note on the Joint 11 Statement on Trilateral Meeting on Afghan Peace 12 Process following a meeting in Moscow between rep- 13 resentatives from the United States, China, and 14 Russia stating, ‘‘They [the three country representa- 15 tives] take note of the Afghan Taliban’s commitment 16 to: fight ISIS and cut ties with al-Qaeda, ETIM, 17 and other international terrorists groups; ensure the 18 areas they control will not be used to threaten any 19 other country, and call on them to prevent terrorist 20 recruiting, training, and fundraising, and expel any 21 known terrorists.’’ 22 (12) In an interview with the New York Times 23 in January 2019, SRAR Khalilzad stated, ‘‘The 24 Taliban [officials] have committed, to our satisfac- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Dec 03, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2953.IS S2953 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2953 IS tion, to do what is necessary that would prevent Af- 1 ghanistan from ever becoming a platform for inter- 2 national terrorist groups or individuals.’’ 3 (13) Al Qaeda considers Afghanistan a con- 4 tinuing safe haven for its leadership, relying on its 5 long-standing and strong relationship with the 6 Taliban leadership. Top leaders of al Qaeda remain 7 loyal to the leader of the Taliban, Mawlawi 8 Hibatullah Akhundzada. Osama bin Laden’s suc- 9 cessor Ayman al-Zawahiri publicly declared his alle- 10 giance to Akhundzada in 2016. 11 (14) The Haqqani Network is subsumed under 12 the larger Taliban umbrella network, but maintains 13 distinct command, control, and lines of operations. 14 The Haqqani Network leader is Sirajuddin Haqqani, 15 who is also the deputy leader of the Taliban and 16 oversees armed combat against United States and 17 coalition forces. 18 (15) ISIS–K has claimed presence in Afghani- 19 stan since 2015, and suffered from territorial losses 20 in 2018 due to immense pressure from sustained op- 21 erations by United States and Afghan forces. The 22 Department of Defense’s June 2019 report, ‘‘En- 23 hancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan’’, sub- 24 mitted to Congress in accordance with section 1225 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Dec 03, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2953.IS S2953 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 2953 IS of the Carl Levin and Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon 1 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2 2015 (Public Law 113–291; 128 Stat. 3550), noted 3 that the ISIS–K had made territorial gain during 4 the reporting period. The report stated, ‘‘ISIS-K 5 poses a threat not only to Afghanistan, but also to 6 the West, which it continuously seeks to target for 7 terrorist activity.’’ 8 (16) On June 25, 2019, Secretary Mike 9 Pompeo announced during a visit to Kabul that— 10 (A) the United States Government and 11 Taliban officials were nearly ready to conclude 12 a draft text outlining the Taliban’s counterter- 13 rorism assurances; 14 (B) discussions had begun with the 15 Taliban regarding foreign military presence, 16 which remains conditions-based, and that there 17 is no agreed timeline for withdrawal; 18 (C) the United States Government was lay- 19 ing the groundwork for inter-Afghan negotia- 20 tions on a timeline and political roadmap for 21 reaching a comprehensive peace agreement; and 22 (D) the success or failure of Afghanistan’s 23 relationship with the United States and donor 24 community will rest in part on ‘‘maintain[ing] 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Dec 03, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2953.IS S2953 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 2953 IS the civil rights of women and minorities and 1 preserv[ing] the gains of the last 18 years’’. 2 (17) The Government of Afghanistan has not 3 been included in the direct negotiations between 4 SRAR and Taliban officials. Taliban officials con- 5 tinue to refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the 6 Government of Afghanistan. 7 (18) Afghan women and minorities were in- 8 cluded in the July 7–8, 2019, intra-Afghan dialogue 9 with Taliban officials in Doha, but they have not 10 been included in the direct negotiations between 11 SRAR and Taliban officials. 12 (19) Examples of gains in democratic develop- 13 ment and human rights in Afghanistan include the 14 following: 15 (A) A vibrant civil society, including inde- 16 pendent media. 17 (B) The right of women and ethnic minori- 18 ties to vote in local and national elections. 19 (C) The Afghan Constitution gives full rec- 20 ognition to various minority groups in Afghani- 21 stan, including ethnic Hazaras. One parliamen- 22 tary seat is reserved for the Sikh and Hindu 23 communities and 10 seats are reserved for rep- 24 resentatives of the nomadic Kuchi peoples. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Dec 03, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2953.IS S2953 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 2953 IS (D) Afghanistan’s Lower House of Par- 1 liament (Wolesi Jirga) reserves 68 seats out of 2 250 for women. 3 (E) There are four female ambassadors in 4 the current Afghan government. 5 (F) There are approximately 6,395 women 6 in the Afghan National Defense Security Forces 7 (ANDSF). 8 (G) The 2009 passage of the Elimination 9 of Violence Against Women law and the 2018 10 passage of the revised Penal Code in Afghani- 11 stan reinforce protections for women. 12 (H) More than 60 percent of the popu- 13 lation in Afghanistan is under the age of 25, 14 half of whom are under the age of 15 and have 15 only lived in a post-2001 Afghanistan that has 16 enjoyed freedoms such as music and sports, 17 which were banned under the Taliban rule. 18 (20) On September 7, 2019, President Donald 19 J. Trump revealed in a series of tweets that he had 20 invited ‘‘major Taliban leaders’’ and Afghan Presi- 21 dent Ashraf Ghani to meet with him separately at 22 Camp David on the following day. He wrote that, 23 because a Taliban attack killed several people, in- 24 cluding a United States soldier, in Kabul on Sep- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Dec 03, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2953.IS S2953 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 2953 IS tember 5, 2019, he had immediately cancelled the 1 meeting and called off peace negotiations. 2 (21) The Afghan constitution provides the peo- 3 ple of Afghanistan the ability to directly elect their 4 President and Members of Parliament. The constitu- 5 tion protects human rights and has resulted in gains 6 for women, minorities, independent press and media, 7 and democratic governance since the Taliban were 8 removed from power in 2001. 9 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON UNITED STATES POLICY. 10 It is the sense of Congress that— 11 (1) it is in the vital national security interests 12 of the United States that Afghanistan never again 13 serves as a platform or sanctuary for terrorist at- 14 tacks against the United States, our allies, or part- 15 ners; 16 (2) the Government of Afghanistan remains an 17 important partner of the United States in the fight 18 against terrorism, working with the United States 19 Government to eliminate al-Qaeda, ISIS–K, and 20 their affiliates in Afghanistan; 21 (3) Afghanistan’s neighbors play a pivotal role 22 in securing a durable peace in Afghanistan to in- 23 clude facilitating peace discussions, eliminating 24 Taliban and Haqqani Network sanctuaries, and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Dec 03, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2953.IS S2953 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •S 2953 IS eliminating support for proxies that threaten United 1 States objectives in the region; 2 (4) a secure and stable Afghanistan is in 3 United States national security interests and con- 4 tributes to regional stability in South Asia; 5 (5) the United States Government pursues ne- 6 gotiations with Taliban officials for the purposes of 7 achieving— 8 (A) verifiable and sustainable count [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]