CODEPINK & World BEYOND War – 2018-09-11 23:50:28
https://www.codepink.org/james_mattis_get_us_troops_out_of_afghanistan
ACTION ALERT: US Troops Out of Afghanistan
CODEPINK
PETITION: Tell Secretary Mattis to
Remove All Troops from Afghanistan
Dear Secretary Mattis,
The US war in Afghanistan is well into its 17th year. The US military now has approximately 8,000 US troops in Afghanistan, plus 6,000 other NATO troops, 1,000 mercenaries, and another 26,000 contractors (of whom about 8,000 are from the United States). That’s 41,000 people engaged in a foreign occupation of a country.
Over the past 17 years, Afghanistan has continued its descent into poverty, violence, environmental degradation, and instability. The United States is spending $4 million an hour on planes, drones, bombs, guns, and over-priced contractors in a country that needs food and agricultural equipment, much of which could be provided by US businesses.
The Cost of Wars Project at Brown University estimates that the US has spent $2 trillion in Afghanistan, with nothing to show for it except the death of US soldiers, and the death, injury and displacement of millions of Afghans.
The time has come to try a different approach. The Afghans themselves have to determine their future, and will only be able to do so once there is an end to foreign intervention.
We urge you to turn the page on this catastrophic military intervention. Bring all US troops home from Afghanistan. Instead, for a fraction of the cost of our military occupation, we could help the Afghans with food, shelter, and agricultural equipment.
Sincerely,
ACTION: Sign the Petition
Tell Secretary Mattis to Remove All Troops from Afghanistan
9/11 Made Me a Refugee
Samira Abrar / CODEPINK
(September 11, 2018) – As we pause to remember the events of 9/11 and honor the victims here in the United States, let’s remember the millions of Afghans who have been killed, maimed and/or displaced over these years. I am one of them. When I was six, we fled our home and country in the middle of the night after a rocket blew up our neighbor’s house. By age 24, I had already lived in five countries.
The US troops that invaded Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban are still there 17 years later, and so are the Taliban. Today, up to 20 insurgent groups are waging war in my homeland. US presence has only made the violence worse. And the women the US was supposedly helping through its invasion of Afghanistan are now worse off than they’ve ever been.
CODEPINK has consistently campaigned against this senseless war in Afghanistan. That’s why we are yet again sending a letter to US Secretary of Defense James Mattis asking him to finally withdraw US troops from Afghanistan.
Afghanistan has suffered in the aftermath of 9/11 more than any other nation. As we approach the 17th year of the US military intervention, violence across the country is escalating at an alarming rate and the bloodshed doesn’t look set to end anytime soon.
The Taliban, who were supposed to be part of a dark history, are now the solid reality of the present. Survival is still the primary concern for Afghans. This past Wednesday, a journalist who was working to highlight the human toll of the war was among 20 killed in a deadly attack in Kabul.
Most Afghans live in extreme poverty. Unemployment is rampant. Millions have become refugees and internally displaced. Afghans make up the world’s second largest refugee population (after Syrians) and they are living in horrific conditions. On a recent trip by CODEPINK organizer Nancy Mancias to refugee camps in Lesvos Greece, Afghan refugees described the camps as even more dangerous than Afghanistan.
It is time to cut through the fog of war and reveal the untold story of the death, devastation and the destruction that the US military is part of. We need negotiations and peace talks to end this war, and all foreign military forces must leave.
ACTION: Tell US Secretary of Defense James Mattis that after 17 years of war, it is clear that there is no military solution. It is up to us, the Afghan people, to build a future free of war. Add your name now!
For peace, not militarism,
Samira Abrar , CODEPINK Divest from War Campaigner
Petition and Events to Say No
To an 18th Year of War on Afghanistan
World BEYOND War
(September 11, 2018) — The United States is threatening sanctions against judges at the International Criminal Court should they continue their years-long investigation into the US war on Afghanistan — a war which, in less than a month, will begin its 18th year.
A long list of prominent US citizens and organizations, and thousands of additional signers, have put their names to a letter asking President Donald Trump to live up to his campaign promises and get the US military out of Afghanistan. The coalition will be gathering signatures through October 2nd and delivering them to the White House that day.
Candidate Trump said this: “Let’s get out of Afghanistan. Our troops are being killed by the Afghans we train and we waste billions there. Nonsense! Rebuild the USA.”
Two Events Are Planned for Washington, DC, on October 2, 2018:
A Rally with speakers at 12 noon in front of the White House
A Panel discussion from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Busboys and Poets, Brookland Location, 625 Monroe St NE, Washington, DC 20017
Speakers confirmed include:
Sharifa Akbary, Afghan-US writer, speaker.
Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder of CODE PINK: Women for Peace.
Matthew Hoh, resigned in protest from his post in Afghanistan with the US State Department over the US escalation of the war in 2009.
Liz Remmerswaal, Coordinator of World BEYOND War in New Zealand.
David Swanson, Director of World BEYOND War.
Brian Terrell, Co-Coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.
Ann Wright, retired US Army colonel and US State Department official.
These free events are listed on the World BEYOND War website and on Facebook.
