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Home » Campaigns » Afghanistan
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AFGHANISTAN: ORGANIZING DISCUSSION
The first important step in
developing a clear position from the antiwar movement on Afghanistan is to generate more discussion about the
situation there and how the peace movement can play a role in promoting
peaceful solutions to the problems. We suggest several resources and critical
questions for discussion which will help you in this process.
- Organize discussions within our own group.
- Raise questions with candidates.
- Follow how your media is covering (or not) this issue
and offer them resources to improve their reporting.
- When your group feels it understands the issues well
enough, organize a community forum.
Critical
Questions for Discussion
- Historical Context. While the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan began in October 2001, Afghans have
faced nearly three decades of war.U.S. covert military aid to Afghan
warlords and Islamic militant groups began in early 1979, eight months before
the Soviet military occupation.U.S. covert military aid during the
1980s amounted to billions of dollars and was the largest covert operation
in world history.(This deadly
history was recently popularized in the movie, “Charlie Wilson’s War,”
which has been said to sugarcoat and glorify U.S. presence in Afghanistan) Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia and others have also pumped
billions in arms into Afghanistan for decades.How do we expose and break the cycle of
arms shipments into Afghanistan?
- Diplomatic Solutions, Not Military Surge.Members of both major political parties
are suggesting increased troop presence in Afghanistan at a point when the civilian death toll
from US military action has reached its
highest peak.Some warlords with
horrendous human rights records currently sit in the Afghan parliament;
why not support direct talks with Taliban and other armed opposition
groups?
- Civil-Military Cooperation as Cooptation? There are a
number of different international military forces present in addition to
the US -- such as the International Security Assistance
Force (ISAF), Provincial Reconciliation Teams (PRTs), and NATO.PRTs often undertake humanitarian
projects like building micro-hydro projects, schools and other
infrastructure.Does having
military involvement in humanitarian work blur the line between military
forces and NGOs? Does it endanger communities when they are seen as linked
with military forces?
- Reconstruction.While billions have been promised for reconstructing Afghanistan, much of the money has gone to
security for internationals, never arrived, or been militarized. What are
Afghans saying about the reconstruction needs of their own society?
- War on Drugs & War on Terror. Nearly half of Afghanistan’s economy comes from the production
and sale of opium. Large sums of
money are in the hands of wealthy warlords, armed groups and contribute to
high levels of government corruption.
Efforts at poppy eradication have failed massively and hurt poor
farmers most. What non-militarized
alternatives are there for Afghan communities to seek economic
development? The so-called Global
War on Terror (GWOT) is used to justify the militarization of
problem-solving. How can the peace
movement challenge Congressional support for the War on Terror? Many critics of the Iraq war blindly accept the legitimacy
of GWOT. How do we challenge such
arguments?
- Afghan Voices, Women. In our country, the debate
about Afghanistan, when it occurs at all, is
sometimes framed as "what is best for the Afghan people." The U.S. claims that military intervention
has helped Afghan women yet their lives are more endangered than ever. Afghanistan still has one of the highest
maternal mortality rates in the world and most of Afghan refugees are
women and their children. How can we help bring the voices of the Afghan
people into this discussion? While recognizing that no individual can
speak for an entire country, how can we help ensure that the views of
Afghan women, and others, are represented in all discussions about Afghanistan? What are Afghan women saying about
their rights and about the needs of their country? How can we act in
solidarity?
- U.S. Torture in Afghanistan. While a great deal of attention is directed at the detainees in Guantanamo and the abuses at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, the practices at Bagram and other
military bases in Afghanistan are equally horrific and have not
stopped. Raise questions with
candidates on specific measures to uphold the Geneva Conventions and
monitor U.S. military detention centers in Afghanistan.
- Response to Terrorism. The September 11 attacks
were a crime, not a military assault. Was a military invasion of Afghanistan an appropriate reaction to the
September 11 attacks? Should the US have instead sought the attackers
via a policing capacity with an international coalition of governmental
and non-governmental organizations to seek justice, or through some other
mechanism?
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Is US military withdrawal a necessary
precondition for peace and security in Afghanistan? What role, if any, should UN and other international military
forces (e.g., ISAF) play? Should the peace movement support U.S. military forces in a policing role,
rather than counter-insurgency role?How do we generate greater public calls for alternatives to
militarized policy in Afghanistan?
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How does the US military presence in Afghanistan contribute to escalating threats against Iran?
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What about Pakistan? Pakistan is portrayed as a US ally while at the same time being one of the strongest supporters of the Taliban. Some members of Congress and the presidential candidates have recently escalated rhetoric of military action in Pakistan (either with or without Pakistani government approval). The Pakistani community, along with other Muslim immigrant communities in the US, has been subjected to intensive profiling, special registrations, and harrassment. How do we work for non-militarized policies?
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What is the US responsibility to Afghanistan? How have US interest over the past few decades, including support for the Taliban, contributed to the destabilization of Afghanistan? How do we best fulfill our obligations to the Afghan people? What is the role of the US peace movement in advocating US tax-dollars to be used in ways that promote peace, stability, and international cooperation? What nonmilitary solutions can we offer?
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Peace movement organizations in Canada, Germany, and the UK are raising questions about their military involvement in Afghanistan. How do we relate to our allies in these other NATO powers?
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