WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia and Counterterrorism, on Wednesday held a subcommittee hearing with U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.), Ranking Member of the subcommittee, on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the U.S. response. David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, and Graeme Smith, a senior consultant for the International Crisis Group testified before the senators. In his opening remarks, Murphy highlighted the suffering of the Afghan people and focused on opportunities for the United States and the international community to help address the country’s economic crisis and provide humanitarian assistance.

“Let me start by saying my belief is President Biden made the right decision to remove our remaining troops from Afghanistan. The American people—by a large margin—support that decision. The overnight collapse of the Afghan army and the government was to me proof that twenty years of nation building had failed, and another twenty years frankly was not going to end in a different result,” said Murphy.                                                                                          

Murphy continued: “But this hearing today of course is not about that decision or the details of the withdrawal. Today, we are commanded to deal with the here and now. There is a growing humanitarian nightmare metastasizing in Afghanistan. And it demands our nation’s attention.”

On the severity of the crisis facing the Afghan people, Murphy said: “By this summer, 97% of Afghans will be living below the poverty line—trying to survive on less than two dollars a day. With nine million people just one step away from famine, this humanitarian crisis—and I shudder to think about this—this humanitarian crisis could kill more Afghans than the past 20 years of war.”

“In this moment of crisis, the UN and international organizations on the ground are racing to scale up the humanitarian response. A few weeks ago, the UN released an appeal to international donors for $4.4 billion to meet the humanitarian need in Afghanistan. This is the largest single country UN appeal in history, and that tells you something about the scale of the crisis. It’s larger than what we see in Syria, or Yemen, or Ethiopia. And I support the administration’s decision to dedicate an additional $308 million to humanitarian aid in Afghanistan. That money’s going to help save lives. Congress frankly should authorize more,” Murphy added.

Murphy concluded: “[T]here is no good choice here. On one hand we cannot unduly empower the Taliban. We have to recognize the moral hazard. But on the other hand with families that we stood with for two decades facing destitution and starvation, the solution cannot be to stand by and do nothing. So today, we hope to use this hearing to understand how the United States can find ways to save lives without unreasonably empowering the Taliban. We know it won’t be easy, but it’s wholly worthwhile given the stakes.”

Last month, Murphy took to the U.S. Senate floor to highlight the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and called on Congress and the Biden administration to take action to save the lives of the Afghan people facing famine and economic collapse. He also released a statement on the administration’s decision to send $308 million in humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan.

A full transcript of Murphy’s opening remarks can be found below:

“I am pleased to bring the subcommittee to order today for a hearing on a critical topic: the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

“I’ll start with a few opening remarks, turn it over to Senator Young, introduce the witnesses. I think we’re joined by a number of our colleagues, so I’ll try to be brief in our opening remarks

“Let me start by saying my belief is President Biden made the right decision to remove our remaining troops from Afghanistan. The American people—by a large margin—support that decision. The overnight collapse of the Afghan army and the government was to me proof that twenty years of nation building had failed, and another twenty years frankly was not going to end in a different result

“The scenes that accompanied our withdrawal were really hard to watch. And there’s no doubt mistakes were made. But in the aggregate, the State Department and Department of Defense pulled off the largest airlift in American history. And anyone suggesting that the unexpected, overnight collapse of the Afghan government was not going to result in scenes of chaos is fooling themselves. The Biden administration made what they could out of a pretty terrible situation.

“But this hearing today of course is not about that decision or the details of the withdrawal. Today, we are commanded to deal with the here and now. There is a growing humanitarian nightmare metastasizing in Afghanistan. And it demands our nation’s attention.

“Living in Afghanistan today is a nightmare and our witnesses will tell us more about this reality. In the middle of winter, more than half the population, 23 million people, don’t have enough food to eat. By this summer, 97% of Afghans will be living below the poverty line—trying to survive on less than two dollars a day. With nine million people just one step away from famine, this humanitarian crisis—and I shudder to think about this—this humanitarian crisis could kill more Afghans than the past 20 years of war.

“Once the U.S. military occupation and all the foreign aid that came with it disappeared, the Afghan economy predictably collapsed. 75% of the Afghan government’s budget had come from foreign donors, and that was rightfully held back in August to prevent it from going to the Taliban. But no country can cope with the loss of 75% of public sector support overnight, especially one that already was in dire straits.

“In this moment of crisis, the UN and international organizations on the ground are racing to scale up the humanitarian response. A few weeks ago, the UN released an appeal to international donors for $4.4 billion to meet the humanitarian need in Afghanistan. This is the largest single country UN appeal in history, and that tells you something about the scale of the crisis. It’s larger than what we see in Syria, or Yemen, or Ethiopia. And I support the administration’s decision to dedicate an additional $308 million to humanitarian aid in Afghanistan. That money’s going to help save lives. Congress frankly should authorize more.

“But as is the case with crises all over the world, the humanitarians cannot and cannot be expected to do it all. No doubt they’re going to do everything they can to keep people alive, but it’s the country’s economic crisis that is threatening to collapse Afghanistan into a nightmarish failed state. Addressing that crisis—without empowering the Taliban—is going to require some creative thinking and some political courage.

“And I don’t want to sugarcoat the dilemma that we face and that we’ll talk about today. On one hand, we warned the Taliban not to take over the government by force, and that by doing so would collapse the economy and run the risk of Afghanistan becoming an international pariah once again. Their decision to charge ahead, knowing these risks, shows how they put their thirst for power over the welfare of the Afghan people. And we need to be honest—there is frankly moral hazard in putting billions into Afghanistan right now. We can do our best to route it around the Taliban, but there is no doubt that the partial effect of aid is to save the Taliban from itself. That is deeply distasteful.

“But the roots of Afghanistan’s economic crisis are complicated, because the United States has a lot to do with it. The collapse is due in part to two decades of U.S. midwifery, and a policy that tolerated and sometimes protected corrupt Afghan governments that facilitated the growth of the Taliban.

“And after the U.S. withdrew in August, we froze Afghanistan’s assets in the Federal Reserve rightly to prevent that money from falling immediately into the hands of the Taliban. But it’s not our money, it’s the Afghan people’s money. And our sanctions against the Taliban further constrained the economy. And a nation that depends on imports—for fuel and food, electricity and medicine—when you cut off the supply of U.S. dollars, it limits commercial actors’ ability to pay for those imported goods. So we have to admit U.S. policy did contribute to the Afghan economy contracting by 40% during the end of last year.

“So there is no good choice here. On one hand we cannot unduly empower the Taliban. We have to recognize the moral hazard. But on the other hand with families that we stood with for two decades facing destitution and starvation, the solution cannot be to stand by and do nothing. So today, we hope to use this hearing to understand how the United States can find ways to save lives without unreasonably empowering the Taliban. We know it won’t be easy, but it’s wholly worthwhile given the stakes. I look forward to exploring what those solutions could look like with our witnesses today.

“With that, let me return to the Ranking Member, Senator Young.”

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