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The Honorable Don Ritter, Sc.D.,
Chairman
Member of Congress 1979-1993
209 Pennsylvania Avenue,
S.E.,
Washington, D.C., 20003 USA
Tele. (202)
543-1177
For Immediate Release: August 21, 1998, Washington, D.C.
Contact: The Honorable Don Ritter, (202) 543-1177
The recent U.S. cruise missile strikes against suspected terrorist training camps in Afghanistan have highlighted that nation and its impact on the United States and its citizens. The event may serve to educate the American people to recognize the urgent need to re-engage the U.S. and its policy at a far higher level in the region. "We need a policy capable of more effectively dealing with the many problems and opportunities presented by this part of Asia," Don Ritter, former U.S. Congressman and Chairman of the Afghanistan Foundation said. "Events in Afghanistan that are driven by external decisions in Islamabad, Riyadh, Tehran and elsewhere now cry out for a re-engaged U.S. policy," he added.
Ritter and the Foundation believe that since the withdrawal of Soviet forces, U.S. engagement in Afghanistan has declined and a tremendous vacuum was left in the region at great peril to American interests and objectives in the region. "The time is now ripe for the U.S. to reestablish its own capacity in the region and to re-devote, increase, and elevate our policy," said Ritter. These actions by the United States signal to all that there is something radically wrong in that part of the world, he added "Afghanistan is a tinderbox that has burned us in Nairobi and Dar-e-Salaam. This strike as a solo event would be like "Smashing a hornets nest with your fist and then just standing there," he said.
Ritter stated that "The United States has an historic relationship with the people of Afghanistan. The Afghan people in partnership with the U.S. helped bring down the Berlin Wall and end the Cold War, yet as a result their national existence has been nearly destroyed and the fabric of their society torn apart. In recent years the people of Afghanistan have suffered the apathy and neglect of the international community and the
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Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski and General Brent Scowcroft
National Honorary Co-Chairmen
United States. That is a real shame considering how much sacrifice the Afghan people endured in helping to bring down Soviet Communism."
The Afghanistan Foundation believes that U.S. National interests, including terrorism, narcotics trafficking and religious ferment in the region, plus the enormous opportunities for energy development make it necessary for the United States to aggressively work for a stable, independent and peaceful Afghanistan, encompassing the values we shared when we fought together to end the Cold War.
The Afghanistan Foundation believes that it is a mistake to associate all Afghans with the acts of a few who are basically not Afghans. Ritter stated "The Bin Laden camp is akin to a foreign country inside Afghanistan and we understand he has his own financing and that his trainees come from a variety of countries with extremist movements from all over the world. He operates quite independently of Afghans." Ritter emphasized that "The target of these missile attacks was not Afghans, but rather, nationals of other countries who happen to reside inside Afghanistan." He further stated "The overwhelming majority of Afghans do not concur with Bin Laden’s activities and would prefer him to depart. The Afghan people have a reaction of abhorrence to such terrorist activities in the name of Islam. Islam does not condone such acts of violence."
Currently the Afghanistan Foundation is engaged in the development of a seminal White Paper on Afghanistan that seeks to create a vehicle for communication of vital information, analysis and policy ideas to the Congress and Administration, in an effort to further the U.S. capacity to engage proactively on Afghanistan as well as related South and Central Asian issues.
The Afghanistan Foundation is a non-profit and non-partisan organization that seeks to raise the level of awareness, understanding and action on issues related to Afghanistan in U.S. policymaking circles. The Foundation is a partnership between Afghans and Americans with strong ties to Members in the U.S. Congress and policymaking community who have, over the years, worked to assist the people of Afghanistan on humanitarian, refugee, military (during the war with the Soviet Union) and other aid issues.
The present state of affairs in Afghanistan demonstrates that now is the time for the U.S. to build their capacity with other nations, such as the United Kingdom, Germany and France, and act for durable peace and sustainable development in Afghanistan.
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Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski and General Brent Scowcroft
National Honorary Co-Chairmen