Above photo: US troops keep watch during an official visit in Farah province, Afghanistan in 2018 [File: James Mackenzie/Reuters.
A Thank You to 6 That Already Have.
The governments of Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mongolia, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, UK, and US all still have troops in Afghanistan and need to remove them.
These troops range in number from Slovenia’s 6 to the United States’ 2,500. Most countries have fewer that 100. Apart from the United States, only Germany has over 1,000. Only five other countries have more than 300.
Governments that used to have troops in this war but have removed them include New Zealand, France, Jordan, Croatia, North Macedonia, and Ireland.
We plan to deliver a big THANK-YOU to every government that removes all of its troops from Afghanistan, along with the names and comments of every signer of this petition.
We plan to deliver a demand to remove all troops to every government that has not done so, along with the names and comments of every signer of this petition.
The U.S. government is the ring-leader, and the bulk of its killing is done from the air, but – given the deficiency in democracy in the US government, which is now on its third president who promised to end the war but hasn’t – it is critical that other governments withdraw their troops. Those troops, present in token numbers, are there to legitimize behavior that could otherwise be recognized as lawless and outrageous. A government lacking the courage to reject US pressure has no business sending any number of its residents to kill or risk dying in a US/NATO war.
This petition will be signed by people in each nation involved in the war, including the nation of Afghanistan.
Please sign the petition, add comments if you have anything to add, and share with others.
If you want to be part of delivering the petition to a particular government, contact World BEYOND War.
Here’s the petition:
To: Governments with Troops Occupying Afghanistan
From: YOUWe, the people of the world, demand that every government with troops still in Afghanistan remove them.
We thank and applaud those governments that have done so.
Please spread the word.
David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is executive director of WorldBeyondWar.org and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. Swanson’s books include War Is A Lie and When the World Outlawed War. He blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org. He hosts Talk Nation Radio. This originally appeared at WorldBeyondWar.org.