Speech #1010051445

Mr. President. in April of last year the Subcommittee on Immigration and Refugee Affairs sent a study mission to Pakistan to examine the problems faced by nearly three million refugees in that country. The study mission visited that region just as agreement was achieved in Geneva for a complete withdrawal of Soviet forces. So the study mission focused its efforts on the prospect of the return of the refugees to their homes in Afghanistan and the efforts needed to facilitate their reintegration. However. the study mission warned of the difficulty of the task aheadof the prospect that the Kabul government of NaJibullah would be able to hold on even without Soviet troops and the likelihood that muJahidin rebel factions would revert to internecene fighting once the war with the Soviets ended. Unfortunately. what our study mission predicted has largely come true today. The wait for repatriation. which so many refugees desired. has become a protracted one. and conditions in the field have deteriorated. Mr. President. a recent report by the Citizens Commission on Afghan Refugees. which was formed last year with the assistance of the respected International Rescue Committee. also confirms the subcommittees earlier observations. The Citizens Commissions new findings suggest that refugees have had to extend their stay in Pakistan due to the continuing civil strife. The recent Commission report. authored by Commissioner James Strickler. noted: Most Commission Members who visited Pakistan previously accepted the widely held view of governments and the general population that the regime in Kabul will probably fall soon after the Soviet withdrawal. Obviously. the conventional wisdom was wrong and it now appears that the fighting will continue on for an indetermin. ant time that some speculate will last for years. � � The report further notes that new refugees are arriving in Pakistan numbering as many as 1.000 a day. Mr. President. this report. and the findings of the subcommittee study mission of a year ago. suggest that sustained attention to the humanitarian needs of these refugees is required. The United States. along with the rest of the international community. must continue its assistance to these refugees. as well as assure that our policies are not in conflict with the goal of facilitating the earliest possible reintegration of the refugees into their native regions in Afghanistan. I commend the Citizens Commission for its perseverance in keeping the humanitarian dimensions of this problem in the public eye. and ask unanimous consent that excerpts of Commissioner Strickers recent report be printed in the REcORD.