Peace and Foreign Policy
Afghanistan Needs Your Help
It takes a long time to fly from Kabul to Washington--but the real distances between the two capitals have little to do with miles.
In Kabul, weeks ago, I caught glimpses of a society reeling from 30 years of war. To visit that city was to see heart-wrenching effects of violence and neglect. The crisis is beyond urgent.
But last week, on Capitol Hill, I searched for signs of urgency at a time of escalating war. Instead, with some blessed exceptions, the congressional attitude was business as usual.
I’d read about the grim U.S. priorities in Afghanistan. Even on paper, the USA is spending just a dime on non-military programs for every dollar on military activities--in a country where the poverty statistics are among the worst in the world.
But the numbers understate the problem. On the ground, the amount of aid reaching its theoretical recipients is actually much lower than budgets indicate. And the consequences of the skewed priorities are horrific.
Despite all the talk about “winning hearts and minds,” the U.S. war effort has little to offer but destruction.
In Kabul, I saw appalling conditions for the 700 families living at the Helmand Refugee Camp District 5--little more than ditches, torn canvas, mud structures and a water pump. Adults and children spoke of losing relatives due to U.S. bombardment of their homes in Helmand province. Now, malnourished and desperate, they depend on scant handouts from Afghan businessmen.
Capitol Hill seems to be light years away--with an atmosphere of acquiescence still dominant while the Afghanistan war escalates. Martin Luther King Jr. recognized the symptoms more than 40 years ago when he decried what he called “the madness of militarism.”
At the Capitol, many of the clearest and most uplifting voices belong to members of Congress who are on PDA’s national advisory board. Last week I spoke with one of them: Jim McGovern, the Massachusetts Congressman who is the lead sponsor of a bill calling for an exit strategy for the United States in Afghanistan.
Just a few dozen members of the House, along with only a few senators, have been willing to vocally challenge the momentum of the Afghanistan war. They deserve our strong support.
As for the rest, they need to hear from us--making the case for a drastic change in policy--to escalate with food, medicine and development aid for Afghanistan instead of more troops and bombs.
Norman Solomon
Co-Chair, Healthcare NOT Warfare campaign
Progressive Democrats of America
Time to Exit Afghanistan
A message from the CDP Chair, John Burton, 08/11/2009
At our recent California Democratic Party Executive Board meeting, members voted to support HR 2404, which will require the Secretary of Defense to define an exit strategy for Afghanistan, so we can start bringing our troops home.
Since we invaded Afghanistan nearly eight years ago, more than 700 American troops have been killed there. In just the first six months of this year, there have been more than 1,000 civilian deaths there, according to the U.N.
Click here to email your member of Congress today – and urge him or her to support an exit strategy for Afghanistan now!
For more than seven long years, brave men and women from the American armed forces have been fighting and dying in Afghanistan.
Fifty-eight U.S. and NATO troops died in Afghanistan in July, making it the deadliest month since we invaded to force out al Qaeda and the Taliban in 2001.
Enough is enough.
It’s time we learned the lessons of history. The British Empire, the most powerful empire in the world, could not subdue Afghanistan. Neither could the Soviet Union, the second most powerful country at that time and next-door neighbor to Afghanistan. Two of the great militaries in history found Afghanistan easy to conquer but impossible to hold.
It’s time the people of Afghanistan assumed full control of their own country.
It’s time for American troops to come home – not only from Iraq, but from Afghanistan too. And the first step is an exit strategy.
Click here to email your representative in Congress today – tell him or her that Californians want an exit strategy for Afghanistan now!
Twenty California Democrats voted in June for an unsuccessful amendment to the defense appropriations bill that would have called for an Afghanistan withdrawal timeline. So far, 14 California Democrats have signed on as co-sponsors of HR 2404, the standalone bill for an Afghanistan exit strategy. That’s a great start.
But HR 2404 is stuck in committee, and we need to get it to the floor of the House where it can come up for a full vote.
Already, $223 billion that could have gone to things like health care reform has been sunk into this war, and some in the military are talking about ramping up our presence in Afghanistan. It’s clear our troops and the people of Afghanistan need your help now.
They need your help calling on all of California’s members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, to support this bill and start planning how we’re going to disengage.
Click here to email your member of Congress today – and urge him or her to support an exit strategy for Afghanistan now!
Our brave servicemen and servicewomen have performed admirably in Afghanistan. Now it’s time to bring them home.
Peace and friendship,
John Burton
Chairman
California Democratic Party
P.S. Looking for the full text of HR 2404? Well here it is, every last word of it:
Not later than December 31, 2009, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to Congress a report outlining the United States exit strategy for United States military forces in Afghanistan participating in Operation Enduring Freedom.
