The Horrors Of War Continue

(This photo of the Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) Hospital is from ibtimes.co.uk.)

The following message is from the group called United for Peace & Justice. I agree with it.

The horror continues in Afghanistan with the deadly bombing of the Doctors Without Bordershospital in Kunduz killing 22 people - 12 staff members and 10 patients, some of them children, with dozens more wounded.

Bombing a hospital is a violation of International Humanitarian Law and a War Crime.

Afghanistan is our country’s longest war – entering its 15th year today, October 7th. President Obama can’t claim he ended combat operations in 2014 when we continue to bomb the country. Bombing is war!

The President and military leaders have repeatedly told us there is no military solution in Afghanistan. Why are the same failed policies that began under the George W. Bush administration still in effect?

Since the 2009 “surge”, things in Afghanistan have only gotten worse. The Taliban have launched more attacks every year. Rather than being diminished they have grown in size and capacity. For the 5th consecutive year Afghan civilian casualties have hit record highs. Some Afghan people, fueled by anger at foreign occupation and a corrupt government, have turned to the Taliban.

The government of Afghanistan is one of the most corrupt in the world – hundreds of millions of our dollars go into the hands of crooked officials, warlords, drug lords and the Taliban. 

The U.S. has spent $65 billion to build the Afghan Army and Police Forces. Despite the infusion of $110 billion in foreign assistance since 2001, Afghanistan’s only real economy is the poppy drug trade which has rapidly increased in recent years under U.S. occupation. America has supported a corrupt Afghanistan government at the expense of Afghan people American service members.

Now, President Obama has ordered a slowdown in U.S. troop withdrawal and we fear he may extend troop deployments beyond 2016.

U.S. military intervention is a proven failure. We invested in drones, bombs, soldiers, and night raids but did not invest in solutions. These failed military tactics have led to more enemies, more extremists and futile, endless war, while increasing suffering for the people of Afghanistan (2.5 million refugees and 700,000 displaced per UNHCR). 

How do we respond to those who say if the U.S. leaves there will be a bloodbath? Unfortunately a bloodbath has been underway for 14 years and the U.S. must take responsibility for its part in it. U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan and the Middle East is seen as a crusade against Islam and used by Al-Qaeda, ISIS and other extremist groups to attract recruits. There are no easy answers or fast solutions. But if we change course, take diplomatic methods seriously, backed by intelligence, money and our full, determined effort, we can achieve a political solution leading to stability instead of endless war.

The Afghanistan war is an abysmal failure. We must ask President Obama, our Congressional representatives, and the military two basic questions:

• Why should U.S. forces stay one more day in Afghanistan? 
• What is preventing a full, focused effort on diplomacy – in Afghanistan as well as in the Middle East?

Send a message to your Congressional Representatives calling on them to end military operations, bring our troops home, and demand focused diplomatic efforts to reach a political solution to the crisis in Afghanistan.

We need to end military intervention and support a diplomatic process leading to a political solution. As long as there are U.S. forces in Afghanistan there will be no peace. As President Obama himself has said, a lasting solution will depend on Afghans and their neighbors reaching a political settlement.

Please share this message with others who want to end the war.