Promoting Peace and Justice for the People of Afghanistan Act of 2017
A BILL
To promote peace and justice in Afghanistan, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress makes the following findings:
As stated by President Donald J. Trump on August 21, 2017, “Military power alone will not bring peace to Afghanistan or stop the terrorist threat arising in that country.”.
Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson noted, on August 22, 2017, that the current fighting in Afghanistan will “take everyone nowhere, and it is time to begin a process—it may very well be a lengthy process—of reconciliation and a peace accord.”. He further noted that the United States seeks “to facilitate a reconciliation peace process,” working with other countries in the region.
The June 2017 report by the Department of Defense, titled “Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan”, states “The U.S. and Afghan Governments agree that the best way to ensure lasting peace and security in Afghanistan is through reconciliation and a political settlement with the Taliban.”.
On June 6, 2017, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, with the participation of regional and international partners, launched the Kabul Process for Peace and Security Cooperation, which is based on the premise that a stable Afghanistan is necessary for a stable region.
The Afghanistan High Peace Council was established by the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on September 5, 2010, within the context of the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program and was tasked with negotiating an end to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s conflict with the Taliban in Afghanistan, with input from women and civil society representatives in the country.
As noted by the Commander of the United States Central Command, General Joseph Votel, in testimony to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate on March 9, 2017, corruption remains a significant challenge to the capability of the Afghan National Security Forces.
As stated in the report referred to in paragraph (3), the Afghan Ministry of Interior “possesses the basic systems and organizations to investigate and adjudicate” alleged corruption and human rights violations, but “the political will to hold violators, especially senior officers, accountable remains fragile.”. The report further notes that the Afghan Ministry of Interior lags behind the Afghan Ministry of Defense “in its capacity to train personnel and units on rule of law and corruption issues.”.
On June 30, 2016, the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan established the Anti-Corruption Justice Center (ACJC) under the Attorney General’s Office to combat high-level corruption within the Government of Afghanistan. The ACJC has since prosecuted several major corruption cases. The Independent Joint Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee in Afghanistan noted, in its August 2017 quarterly report, that the ACJC “has continued functioning as an effective judicial device to combat corruption in various government organizations.”.
The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission was established on June 6, 2002, pursuant to the Agreement on Provisional Arrangements in Afghanistan Pending the Re-Establishment of Permanent Government Institutions, done in Bonn, Germany, December 5, 2001 (commonly known as the “Bonn Agreement”), and functions as a national human rights institution working on the protection and promotion of human rights in Afghanistan.
As stated in the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan’s (UNAMA) 2016 Annual Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Afghanistan, the number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan in 2016 was the highest since UNAMA began counting such casualties in 2009 and women and children “continue to be disproportionately affected by the conflict.”. UNAMA also noted, in the 2017 Midyear Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Afghanistan, that “both child and women casualties rose during the first half of 2017.”.
The report referred to in paragraph (3) notes that—
“structural barriers, traditional cultural norms, and insecurity” contributed to the precarious situation of women in Afghanistan and in the Afghanistan National Defense and Security Forces; and
“little progress has been made toward implementation” of the Government of Afghanistan’s National Action Plan on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security.
The New Development Partnership With Afghanistan was launched by the United States Agency for International Development in March 2015 to reinforce the United States “commitment to results and accountability by linking funds to specific reforms in combating corruption, promoting rule of law, strengthening women’s rights, and enhancing private sector growth.”.
The Afghan Compact, which was launched by the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Kabul on August 24, 2017—
commits the Government of Afghanistan to key reforms aimed at improving security and creating a more peaceful, stable, and prosperous society; and
includes benchmarks in the areas of governance, security, peace and reconciliation, and economy, which reflect global standards.
The United States has been a leading donor to the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, which was established in 2002, to provide a coordinated financing mechanism for the Government of Afghanistan's budget and priority national investment projects.
Sec. 3 Definitions
In this Act:
Appropriate congressional committees— The term appropriate congressional committees means—
the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate;
the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives; and
the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
Atrocity crimes— The term atrocity crimes refers to any of the following:
War crimes as defined in section 2441(c) of title 18, United States Code.
Genocide as defined in section 1091(a) of title 18, United States Code.
Crimes against humanity as defined in Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Gross violations of internationally recognized human rights— The term gross violations of internationally recognized human rights has the meaning given the term in section 502B(d)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2304(d)(1)).
Transitional justice— The term transitional justice means the range of judicial, non-judicial, formal, informal, retributive, and restorative measures employed by countries transitioning out of armed conflict to redress legacies of atrocities and promote long-term, sustainable peace.
Sec. 4 Sense of Congress
It is the sense of Congress that—
it is in the national security interests of the United States that the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Afghan Taliban conclude, through inclusive negotiations, a political settlement in which the Taliban—
renounces violence;
breaks ties to international terrorism; and
accepts the Afghan constitution, including its safeguards to respect human rights, especially of women, girls, and ethnic and religious minorities;
the United States Government should urge all regional actors to play a constructive role in supporting peace and stability in Afghanistan and the South Asia region, including by—
refraining from supporting proxy forces in Afghanistan; and
exercising their influence on the Afghan Taliban to renounce violence, break ties with international terrorism, and enter into talks with representatives of the Government of Afghanistan without preconditions;
the United States Government should bring all the tools at its disposal to bear in seeking a political settlement to the conflict in Afghanistan, including the diplomatic and development expertise at the Department of State and United States Agency for International Development;
the United States Government should increase its bilateral and multilateral engagement by Cabinet members and other high-level officials in support of a negotiated political settlement, including by continuing to support engagement in the Quadrilateral Coordination Group and other formats for dialogue among regional powers to promote a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Afghanistan;
the United States Government should stipulate clear conditions for the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan, including guarantees that Afghan territory will not be used to stage attacks on the United States;
combat operations, including offensive actions and combat-enabling support to operations such as close air support, are inherently government functions that cannot be appropriately carried out by private contractors;
the United States Government—
should not deploy private contractors to undertake combat operations in Afghanistan or embed with the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces; and
should respect the sovereignty of the democratically elected Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan over Afghan territory;
the United States Government should support democratic, accountable, and inclusive governance in Afghanistan;
the President should use the authority of the President to impose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note) on officials of the Government of Afghanistan and their associates responsible for gross violations of internationally recognized human rights or acts of significant corruption;
the United States Government should use other existing authorities to implement visa bans and asset freezes on Afghan individuals responsible for corruption;
it is in the national interests of the United States that the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan effectively upholds civilian security by enforcing the rule of law and ensuring accountability for abuses and corruption committed by state actors;
approaches, such as the New Development Partnership of the United States Agency for International Development, which link funds provided to the Government of Afghanistan to specific reforms—
are important for incentivizing progress by the Government of Afghanistan, including the commitments it has made in the Afghan Compact, and ensuring the effectiveness and sustainable impact of United States assistance; and
should be utilized more broadly by the Department of State and the Department of Defense to link funding to specific progress on benchmarks relating to human rights, anti-corruption, and accountable governance, particularly with respect to assistance to Afghan security forces and relevant ministries; and
The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan should—
implement laws and policies to govern democratically, including through the conduct of regular, inclusive, credible, and transparent elections, and to protect the rights of individuals, civil society, and the media;
take consistent steps to protect and advance the rights of women, girls, and ethnic and religious minorities in Afghanistan;
effectively implement a whole-of-government, anti-corruption strategy that has been endorsed by the High Council on Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption, as agreed to at the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan in October 2016;
prosecute individuals alleged to be involved in corrupt or illegal activities in Afghanistan;
take consistent steps to develop a professional, accountable civilian police force and ensure that its use in counter-insurgency aims does not undermine law enforcement and the rule of law;
take consistent steps, through the civilian justice system, to investigate and prosecute military and police personnel who are credibly alleged to have violated human rights, and to ensure that the military and the police are cooperating in such cases; and
take consistent steps to promote additional transitional justice measures.