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Where Do You Stand on Afghanistan? |
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By 2008, five years after the Iraq war started, most Americans opposed the war in Iraq. You were probably among them.
By 2014, five years from now, most Americans will oppose the continued occupation of Afghanistan. You will probably be among them.
But now is the time to take a stand against the proposed escalation of upwards of 20,000 more American soldiers sent to fight in a war with no military solution.
That’s why bloggers and activists are coming together now for a week of writing against escalation. This week we’re raising awareness on the issue and overturning the notion that all Americans support escalation. We’re just getting started, but we need your help. That’s why I’m asking you to visit us at www.getafghanistanright.com and sign up for our email list, our FaceBook group, and our page on my.barackobama.com.
With netroots support, we’re going to put massive pressure on opinion leaders and elected officials. But we can’t do that without you. That means you need to take a stand on Afghanistan.
There are two main reasons to oppose escalation. The first I’ve already mentioned: Afghanistan requires a diplomatic, not military solution. The second is that the United States cannot afford to continue funding Bush’s wars.
We do not have to escalate in Afghanistan in order to keep America safe.
I often hear people say that, hypothetically, NATO could have won a decisive victory in Afghanistan in 2002-2005. That may be. But does that mean escalation will work now? I’m with Bob Herbert, who dismissed that argument in four words: “That time has passed.”
In the present, military and political leaders are questioning the wisdom of escalation. British Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, returning from six months of combat in Afghanistan, said in October that he did not believe a decisive military victory was possible. He favors negotiations. Many British and European leaders share his doubts about escalation.
Other skeptics include Senator Russ Feingold, former diplomat Andrew Bacevich, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Afghan women leaders like Malalai Joya and the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) have called for a withdrawal of international forces from their country.
But we’re not just reacting to leaders’ words. We’re reacting to events on the ground. After seven years of war and tremendous bloodshed, General David Petraeus warns us that Afghanistan will be the “longest campaign in the so-called ‘long war’.” Yet troop increases since 2007 have only caused a cycle of violence against civilians, driving Afghans into the arms of the Taliban. The foreign occupiers are unpopular, and in many sections of Afghanistan Taliban shadow governments represent the final authority. Meanwhile, the notoriously corrupt Karzai government lacks legitimacy, and American contractors swallow aid dollars meant for the population.
We cannot afford to continue this occupation. We cannot afford to funnel money to Afghan warlords, Pakistani spies, and corporate privateers while Americans go jobless and hungry. We cannot afford to destabilize Pakistan, a nuclear-armed country of 160 million, through missile strikes that inflame their tribal populations. We cannot afford to let Afghanistan distract us from the situation in Kashmir, the launching pad for the Mumbai attacks and a flashpoint of conflict between India and Pakistan. And we cannot afford to strain our alliances with European powers further at a time when we need to work together in solving a global economic crisis.
There are solutions other than escalation for Afghanistan. Preliminary talks have already taken place, under the supervision of our ally Saudi Arabia, between the Taliban and the Karzai government. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and General David Petraeus support the idea of negotiations.
In the elections of 2006 and 2008, Americans spoke out against Bush’s foreign policy. We spoke out against an occupation in Iraq of undetermined length and cost. The time has come for us to speak out against a similar occupation of Afghanistan. Our elected leaders must end, not prolong, this conflict. At this time of crisis, they have a responsibility to Get Afghanistan Right.
We hope you’ll join us.
It is neither cost nor public boredom that dictates an end to the foolishness in Afghanistan. It is a simple fact that there is no reason for us to be there. We occupy the role of a distraction from the civil war we interrupted. We pursue an idea which has no existence in Afghanistan and, like those before us, shall find ourselves embarrassed by our stupidity in having initiated the chase in the first place.
Teshekur
The entire mission is just plain stupidity. We never seem to learn from the historical record what is possible and what is not. The British empire at the height of her power tried twice to defeat Afghanistan and was sent packing. The Soviet empire who controlled all of central Asia was never able to bring Afghanistan into their orbit even with an all out military invasion and the near total destruction of the country. They killed MILLIONS and still had to run for home with their tail between their legs. What in the world makes NATO think that they can prevail there is just totally beyond understanding. We need to get out and we need to do it now.
Not again!!!