Afghanistan Relief Committee

According to Group Watch, the Afghanistan Relief Committee (ARC) is "a private, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization established by former U. S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Robert Neumann and Mary Ann Dubs in 1980 to help Afghan refugees from the war between the mujahedeen and the Soviet-backed government. Initially the group worked within the United States, using the media and organizing activities to publicize the situation of the refugees. ARC then began to work directly with Afghan refugees living in camps inside the Pakistan border, and more recently has been providing humanitarian aid in Afghanistan. ARC is housed at the law offices of attorney John Train, president of ARC."

"ARC was founded shortly after the onset of the Ronald Reagan administration, a time when many anticommunist, freedom fighter non-governmental organizations (NGOs) undertook the cause of the Afghan mujahedeen resistance. Among the many support groups founded at that time were the Committee for a Free Afghanistan (CFA), American Friends of Afghanistan (AFA), and the Afghanistan Information Center (AIC)--all of which received funding, directly or indirectly, from the government funded National Endowment for Democracy."

"It has been suggested that ARC was founded to organize support for Zia Khan Nassery to head a puppet government which would be under the guidance of the CIA through its cover group, The Asia Foundation. However, other observers argue that ARC was formed in response to the U.S. government policy of working through NGOs to carry out foreign policy goals that could not be conducted through normal channels. In this case it was support for the mujahedeen opposition to the Soviet-backed government in Afghanistan. It was believed that working through 'private' organizations would maintain the credibility of the Afghan resistance as an 'indigenous freedom struggle.'" - See Group Watch file for Funding, Activities, and Sources.

Principals (1987)


 * James A. Michener, Co-Chair
 * Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, Co-Chair
 * Lowell Thomas, Co-Chair


 * John Train, President
 * Gordon A. Thomas, Executive Vice President
 * Jenik Radon, Senior Vice President
 * Edward A. Friedman, Sr., Vice President
 * Rosanne Klass, Vice President
 * Andrew Kotchoubey, Treasurer

Honorary Co-Chairmen


 * Senators Claiborne Pell, Richard G. Lugar, Alfonse M. D'Amato, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Orrin G. Hatch, Gordon J. Humphrey, and J. James Exon
 * Representatives Robert J. Lagomarsino, Charles B. Rangel, Don Ritter, Bill Green, Samual S. Stratton, Jim Courter, and Bill McCollum

Directors in 1987
 * Ambassadors Henry Byroade, H. Eugene Douglas, T.L. Eliot, Jr., F.L. Kellogg, Sheldon Mills, and John M. Steeves ("all of whom served as ambassadors to Afghanistan")
 * Judith F. Hernstadt
 * Jerry M. Mosier