Above photo: Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, provide security during Operation Destined Strike while Soldiers below search a village in the Chowkay Valley in Kunar Province, Afghanistan. U.S. Army.
EVENT: Thursday, November 19 at 7:30 pm Eastern, there will be a webinar, “Ending the War on Afghanistan,” featuring Kathy Kelly, Rory Fanning, Danny Sjursen, Ann Wright, and Matt Hoh. Five passionate activists, all with extensive personal experience in Afghanistan, a country whose civilization dates back over 5,000 years and on whose land the U.S. military has now waged close to 20 years of devastating war.
The U.S. war on Afghanistan is in its 20th year. The morning after this webinar, the House Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing on keeping it going. If you’re from the United States you can click here to email and phone your representative to ask them to end the war and attend this webinar. You can also share this email with friends who might want to attend. And you can think of questions you plan to ask.
Ann Wright will be the moderator. Register here: https://actionnetwork.org/events/webinar-ending-the-war-on-afghanistan/
Win Without War Executive Director Stephen Miles released the following statement regarding the announcement of a drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq:
“Donald Trump has had four years to end our endless wars. He hasn’t — and a last-minute, partial reduction doesn’t change that.
“A drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq is a long-overdue and welcome step in the right direction. But let’s be clear: this is just a step, not an end to these long wars. Maintaining thousands of troops in indefinite occupation is far from a rethinking of the logic of militarism, particularly when past drawdowns have been repeatedly undermined by troop surges, redeployments to nearby countries, increased reliance on private contractors, and the dramatic growth of aerial warfare, resulting in massive increases in civilian deaths.
“Nor is there any indication that this withdrawal is responsible. A responsible end to endless war means not just cutting and running. In place of military action, we must make deep investments in diplomacy, conflict prevention, and peacebuilding to address the underlying drivers of conflict. We must also work to support Afghan-led efforts for accountability and post-conflict justice, centering the victims of decades of violence, not just the combatants.
“Despite his laughable claims, Trump’s foreign policy has been anything but restrained. Instead, his reckless and hostile approach has caused untold death and destruction in places like Yemen and Libya, repeatedly brought us to the brink of new wars with countries like Iran, and left the U.S. global military apparatus as overpowered as ever.
“The Biden administration needs a new approach — not just a tinkering with troop levels, but a wholesale transformation of the United States’ approach to the world. That means fully ending these conflicts, including our covert air wars, reprioritizing the more peaceful, effective tools in our toolbox, and reckoning with the long and disastrous legacy of U.S. militarism.”