The united states federal government should end the war in afghanistan.

TIME TO GO HOME!! OBSERVATION ONE: WELCOME TO THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN Rising DEATH TOLLS, CRIMINAL PRACTICES of occupation that has SHATTERED the lives of TENS of THOUSANDS with REPEATED TOURS all to support the interests of a TINY few financial elites are IGNORED by the administration that rode the wave of anti-war sentiment and promised CHANGE A GENIUNE struggle to end WAR DEMANDS immediate WITHDRAWL of U.S. Troops http://axisoflogic.com...... Such numbers, however, do have an immense significance and demand serious reflection tens of thousands US troops who have seen their lives shattered by horrendous physical wounds as well as the immense psychological toll of repeated tours of duty fighting a hostile population as part of an army of occupation. when soldiers are sent to kill and die in a war based upon lies, a war whose human costs are covered up by the government and a servile media and a war that is waged to suppress popular resistance to foreign occupation, this psychological toll is sharply intensified. The Obama administration’s claims—echoing the lies of Bush and Cheney—that US is fighting in Afghanistan to prevent another terrorist attack on US soil have been discredited by the military commanders themselves, i. It involves criminal practices US soldiers are dying to prop up the venal puppet regimewhich represents a group of brutal warlords and heroin traffickers on the CIA payroll, Far from securing the country, the increased US military presence has only led to a steady escalation of violence and death. unarmed civilians, the majority of them women and children, killed by US-led occupation forces in night raids, bombings, checkpoint shootings and drive-by killings by US convoys also doubledThe level of bloodletting is set to escalate sharply, The broad popular hostility in the US to this war, continued under Obama, has not disappeared. But it can find no expression whatsoever within the two big business parties or in the mass media, which largely echoes the official line that the US is fighting a “good war” in Afghanistan. must demand the immediate withdrawal of all US troops OBSERVATION TWO: THE HARMS U.S. Military Presence in Afghanistan has caused severe damage. We will isolate a few independent scenarios. SCENARIO ONE: THE ECONOMY U.S. MILITARY PRESENCE WILL COLLAPSE THE U.S. ECONOMY http://www.eurasiareview.com...... the immense magnitude of the present-day military complex certainly complicates all efforts to effect a recovery, by draining more than $1 trillion a year from the economy’s potential to produce private consumer and producer goods. The current long-running wars and military occupations in Afghanistan, which will probably never end, , only add to the economic drain on U.S. resources THE MONEY SPENT ON THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN IS WASTEFUL SWANSON former coordinator for ACORN 2k10 http://www.commondreams.org...... ; May. more troops will mean ongoing higher costs to maintain the Afghan occupation, construct new bases there, fuel the machines of war, and provide the weaponry. Looking just at the militarythis is $33 billion to be added to a pile of waste. According to the CBO, Congress has already approved $345 billion for war in Afghanistan, that same money The fact is that military spending is destroying the U.S. economy*Investing public dollars in the military produces fewer jobs . *Investing public dollars in any of these areas: healthcare, education, mass transit, construction for home weatherization and infrastructural repair has a larger direct and indirect economic impact than investing in the military NEW TROOP DEPLOYMENT TRADES OFF WITH DOMESTIC PRIORITIES DEVOURING OUR ABILITY TO REBUILD THE ECONOMY KANE member of the International Security Program 2k9 http://www.washingtonpost.com...... ) the new troop deployment would crowd out funding for domestic priorities the troop buildup and cost of the military efforts "could devour our ability to pay for the actions necessary to rebuild our own economy. We simply cannot afford to shortchange the crucial investments we need in education, job training, healthcare, and energy independence. The biggest threat to our long-term national security is a stunted economy SCENARIO TWO: AFGHANISTAN INSTABILITY U.S. PRESENCES HAS FUELED THE ETHNIC DIVIDE WITHIN THE REGION The Pashtuns, Afghanistan’s LARGEST and HISTORICALLY dominant ethnic group DESPISE foreign occupation and have INTENSIFIED opposition to U.S. Troop Presence. The Tajik ethnic minority has taken advantage of that presence to fight back their historic Pashtun rivals. THE U.S. HAS BACKED ITSELF INTO A CORNER FOR WHICH THERE IS NO GRACEFUL ESCAPE. HARRISON 2k9 Selig -; THE NATION,10/21; http://www.thenation.com...... t the Pashtuns, Afghanistan's largest and historically dominant ethnic group, will unite to fight a foreign occupation force simply because it is foreign. As Howard Hart, a, "The very presence of our forces in the Pashtun areas is the problem. The more troops we put in, the greater the opposition." The tenacity of the Taliban insurgency is rooted in opposition to an occupation that is, in this case, a particularly distasteful one to the Pashtuns. The US infidel is hated for Persian Gulf and Middle East policies--especially unconditional US support for Israel--that are perceived as anti-Muslim. There have been too many innocent civilian causalities in Afghanistan due to unreliable US troops and airstrikes Smith, Sep. ’09 http://www.hrc.org...... ) civilian casualties rose 40% in 2008 according to a UN report. Civilian deaths in Afghanistan from US and NATO airstrikes nearly tripled from 2006 to 2007, the US military has admitted errors, but drone attacks continue. Thousands of non-combatant Afghanis have been killed, ]“As the conflict has intensified, it is taking an increasingly heavy toll on civilians.” An increase of US troops in Afghanistan has contributed to the unstable conditions of violence against women, in addition to an increase in sex trafficking, prostitution, and rape Smith, Sep. ’09 ( http://www.hrc.org...... ) “Self-immolation, rape and abduction of women and children has no parallel in the history of Afghani Afghanistan”¦the US government has no and will not have any genuine concern for the condition of freedom, democracy and women’s rights in Afghanistan The US Army has reported the highest level of suicides and mental health issues of US troops as a result of the countless troops fighting an endless war in Afghanistan Smith, Sep. ’09 (”, http://www.hrc.org...... ) In 2009, the US Army reported the highest level of suicides among,. When soldiers are finally released from the military, care is often woefully inadequate to address both physical and mental health needs. The troops who refuse to fight the war in Afghanistan are at the forefront of ranks swelled with discontented men and women who see no real justification for endless war and occupations. “There is no way I will deploy to Afghanistan. The occupation is immoral and unjust. It does not make the American people any safer. It has the opposite effect.”ï¿½ “US Army Spc Victor Agosto who refused to deploy to Afghanistan in May 2009 Having troops in Afghanistan reinforces the war, approving torturing methods US soldiers implement on innocent civilians of Afghanistan Smith, Sep. ’09”, http://www.hrc.org...... ) The use of torture methods by US forces in Afghanistan “all clearly outlawed” has been well documented. the mistreatment of prisoners was routine: shackling them to the ceilings of their cells, depriving them of sleep, kicking and hitting them, sexually humiliating them and threatening them with guard dogs