Bring the Troops Home Now!!!

RAW Position Statement on Afghanistan: Sept. 15th, 2008

Whereas:

The war in Afghanistan is not a "good war." It was started on the false premise of fighting terrorism through war and justified with excuses (neither accomplished) of ousting the Taliban and killing Bin Laden. The real US motive is geopolitical hegemony in the heart of Central Asia. US bases in Afghanistan enables the United States to encircle Iran and provides a launching pad in Russia’s backyard, in China’s backyard, and in Iran’s backyard. US presence in Afghanistan is now serving as a launching pad for deadly US strikes into Pakistan, with growing numbers of civilian casualties.

The Afghan War, like the Iraq War, is creating, not stopping, terrorists, has reconstituted the Taliban, and is devastating the lives of the Afghan people. A recent RAND study on Afghanistan found that military force is “too blunt, an instrument” to use in this war, with only a seven percent chance of success. Obama and McCain’s policy to move troops from Iraq to Afghanistan will only escalate the violence.

The U.S. military has increasingly turned to bombing to deal with Afghan insurgents. So far, 2,500 people have been killed in Afghanistan since January, 2008, about half of them civilians. In As a result, well over 60% of Afghans now want US and NATO forces out.

After six years of war, the U.S.-backed Karzai government still has only limited control outside the capital Kabul. The rest of the country is in the hands of disparate war lords. Corruption in the Karzai government is rampant.

Women’s status has worsened, with grinding poverty, little food, water and employment, and and increasing oppression from the Karzai government’s fundamentalist judiciary and resurgent Taliban presence. The heroin trade, now funding the insurgency and the Taliban, has exploded since the occupation of Afghanistan, reversing the Taliban’s ban on opium production.

    Resolved:
  • RAW opposes the wars and occupation in both Iraq and Afghanistan, as the US reduces its forces in Iraq and escalates its military presence in Afghanistan.
  • RAW opposes all plans by both presidential candidates to escalate the US military presence in Afghanistan, including the transfer of US troops from Iraq to Afghanistan.
  • RAW demands the removal of all occupying forces in Afghanistan, including the 36,000 US soldiers, and the elimination of all US bases.