Mr. Speaker. in the 8 years since the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. perhaps as many as onehalf of Afghanistans 16 million citizens have either fled the country. or have been forcibly displaced or killed. But this only begins to tell the story of the heroic struggle of the Afghan people. Of the 3 million Afghan refugees. approximately half are children. That means any Afghan under the age of 18 has spent virtually half his or her life or more as a child of war. Who among us can truly understand the physical and psychological pain suffered by these children? As the Kabul government manipulates the politics of a Soviet pullout. an entire generation of Afghan children grows into adulthood having never shared the tranquility of village life once experienced by their parents and grandparents.
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refugees