Evans Liberal Politics, News Update from Citizens for Legitimate Government and others, CLG News used with permission, quoted verbatim from email newsletter, Unedited copy from newsletter — Evans Liberal Politics simply is presenting this important AfPak news with no comment. Photo of Afghan villagers by Steve Evans:

Omar Deghayes: ‘He was brought in manacled and hooded’

CLG   — Libyan-born British resident held in Afghanistan was warned he faced a long period of incarceration in US hands 14 Jul 2010 In an MI5 report on the interrogation of Omar Deghayes, a Libyan-born British resident held by the Americans at Bagram airbase north of Kabul, an officer wrote to his superiors in London: “Deghayes was brought to the interview room manacled and hooded. When the hood was removed, Deghayes looked pale and shaky.” …Deghayes told the [MI5] officers that he was suffering internal bleeding and complained that no evidence had been presented against him… “He was treated better by the Pakistanis; what kind of world was it where the Americans were more barbaric than the Pakistanis? We listened but did not comment.” MI5 interrogated Deghayes again and told a senior American officer in Deghayes’ presence, that the detainee had not been co-operating. “If he sticks to his story and just gives a few more details, we propose disengaging and allowing events here to take their course,” the officer wrote. In the autumn Deghayes was flown to Guantánamo Bay, where he stayed for more than five years. At one point he was so severely beaten that he was blinded in one eye.

The torture files: the interrogations

CLG   — (guardian.co.uk) 14 Jul 2010 These documents detail for the first time the experiences of a detainee under interrogation. Omar Deghayes records his complaints about his treatment in the Bagram detention centre in Afghanistan in July 2002 and the willingness of MI5 officers to let him be removed to Guantanamo Bay.

Pakistan: Blackwater still active in Capital

CLG   — 13 Jul 2010 On May 14 and May 26 last, the exact postal addresses of 33 houses in posh residential localities of the Federal Capital – that were confirmedly hired by US Marines and Blackwater personnel – were first published in this newspaper. Further information indicates that out of those 33 houses – either hired by US Marines in the garb of humanitarian workers of US Office of Defence Representatives to Pakistan (ODR-P) or by Blackwater mercenaries – five residences-to-offices have been relocated to alternative venues and highest possible security measures are being adopted for their protection so that no one can track them. They were previously located in the sectors F-7/3, F-8/3 and F-6/2 of the Federal Capital but now they have been moved to E-7 and G-6/4.

Carl Levin backs strikes inside Pakistan

CLG   — 13 Jul 2010 A leading Democrat said the U.S. should be more aggressive in conducting airstrikes against groups inside Pakistan that threaten the mission in neighboring Afghanistan. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters Tuesday morning that the U.S. should go after groups like the Haqqani network that “directly threaten” the mission [?] in Afghanistan. [What, exactly, *is* the 'mission' in Afghanistan, besides protecting opium and gas pipelines and enriching US corporaterrorists and mercenaries? - Comment by Lori Price.]

Twelve US-led soldiers killed in 48 hours

CLG   — 14 Jul 2010 Five more American soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan’s volatile south, bringing to 12 the number of foreign soldiers killed over the past 48 hours. NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Wednesday that four of the soldiers lost their lives in a bomb attack, while the other one was killed in a gunfight with the Taliban in the volatile south. The latest casualties come a day after seven NATO soldiers — four British and three American — were killed in the war-torn country.

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Gunned down as they slept: Rogue Afghan soldier shoots dead three British troops inside military compound

CLG   — Attacker used grenade launcher and is now on the run 13 Jul 2010 A renegade Afghan soldier is on the run today after killing three British soldiers in southern Helmand while they slept. Another four British soldiers were wounded in the attack inside a joint patrol base near Nahr-e Saraj early this morning.

Afghan soldier murders British troops

CLG   — 13 Jul 2010 A rogue Afghan soldier was on the run tonight after murdering three British troops and wounding another four. The killer launched his attack on soldiers from 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles at a base in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan early this morning. He shot one dead in his sleeping quarters and killed the other two in the base’s command centre using a shoulder-mounted rocket-propelled grenade launcher, sources said.

More AfPak & Military News

Senators urge clarity on Afghan war:

  — AlJazeera.net, July 15, 2010, by AlJazeera:

US politicians have voiced their concern over the war in Afghanistan, saying US and Nato war efforts suffer from a crippling “lack of clarity”.

At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington on Wednesday, the legislators said Barack Obama has not done enough to explain his exit strategy.

They were referring to the US president’s self-imposed July 2011 deadline for starting a withdrawal of US forces.

The hearing comes in the wake of heavy casualties suffered by US forces in 24 hours, with the confirmed deaths of eight soldiers in attacks, including a Taliban raid on a police compound in the southern city of Kandahar.

Taranis: The £143million unmanned stealth jet that will hit targets in another continent

  — 13 Jul 2010 Defence firm BAE Systems today officially unveiled its first ever high-tech unmanned stealth jet. The Taranis, named after the Celtic god of thunder, is about the same size as a Hawk jet and is equipped with stealth equipment and an ‘autonomous’ artificial intelligence system. The plane will test the possibility of developing the first ever autonomous stealthy Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) that would ultimately be capable of precisely striking targets at long range, even in another continent.

Karzai Approves Plan to Keep Taliban Out of Villages

  — By Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service, Department of Defense News:

WASHINGTON, July 14, 2010 – Afghan President Hamid Karzai has approved a program that will set up local police forces in towns and villages where the Taliban are attempting to infiltrate and intimidate the population.

The local police forces will bridge the gap until fully trained government forces can step in, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said at a news conference today.

“While we are simultaneously operating at a far higher tempo and degrading the Taliban so they are less of a threat to these local communities, we can utilize a willing, local, armed population to do community policing,” Morrell said.

The local police forces are not militias, Morrell explained. Karzai approved a plan to put up to 10,000 community police in place, to be paid by the government and to operate under the control of the Afghanistan’s interior ministry.

Petraeus wants Taliban in Pakistan on terror list

  — AP News hosted on Google News, July 14, 2010, by Pauline Jelinek:

WASHINGTON — The new military commander in Afghanistan and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee are urging the State Department to add to its terrorist list some Afghan insurgent commanders who operate from hiding places in neighboring Pakistan.

Commander of NATO forces Gen. David Petraeus wants some leaders of the Haqqani network added to the list, a senior U.S. Defense official in Washington said Wednesday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to describe internal administration discussions.

On Tuesday, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., urged the State Department to take the same action. Levin is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Both asked for sanctions against the al-Qaida-linked group, led by Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj. The Haqqani network launches attacks against U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan from the Waziristan tribal region in Pakistan.

In Afghanistan, drug rehab for children

  — MichaelMoore.com, July 14, 2010, by Aunohita Mojumdar / Christian Science Monitor:

Children in Afghanistan are often fed opium to stop their crying, and many are born to addicts. A few clinics offer drug rehab for youths, but they are scarce and socially taboo.

Afghan war unwinnable under Karzai, says rights group

  — Reuters on MichaelMoore.com, July 14, 2010, by Rob Taylor:

(Reuters) – It would take “a miracle” to win the war and restore viable peace in Afghanistan under the inept government of President Hamid Karzai despite a massive surge in foreign troops, a rights group said on Monday.

The surge had also driven violence to its worst levels since the Taliban’s 2001 ousting, with 14 civilians killed or wounded on average each day, Afghanistan Rights Monitor (ARM) said in a new report (see below).

“Contrary to President Barrack Obama’s promise that the deployment … would ‘disrupt, dismantle and defeat’ Taliban insurgents and their al Qaeda allies in the region, the insurgency has become more resilient, multi-structured and deadly,” the group said.

Taliban attacks kill 8 US soldiers within 24 hours

  — Christian Science Monitor on MichaelMoore.com, July 14, 2010, by Kristen Chick:

Taliban attacks on Tuesday night and Wednesday killed eight US soldiers within a 24-hour period, highlighting the intensifying insurgency waged by the Taliban, which this year is carrying out more attacks than ever in the nearly nine-year-long war.

On Wednesday, a roadside bomb killed four US troops in the south, reports the Associated Press. A fifth soldier died the same day of wounds from a gun battle.

On Tuesday night, a Taliban attack on the headquarters of a police unit in the Afghan city of Kandahar killed nine people, including three US soldiers. It came hours after an Afghan soldier killed three British troops in neighboring Helmand Province, and days after six additional US troops were killed in Taliban attacks Saturday.

Tuesday’s attack on the police post began when a suicide bomber exploded his car at the entrance to the elite Afghan National Civil Order Police, reports AP. Fighters then began firing rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, but the Afghan police, along with NATO troops, kept the insurgents from entering the compound.

Afghanistan Rights Monitor SLAMS Washington
Spin About “Progress” in Afghanistan

  — Firedoglake, July 14, 2010, by Derrick Crowe:

The Afghanistan Rights Monitor’s (ARM) mid-year report on Civilian Casualties of Conflict (pdf) blasts the happy-talk coming out of the Obama Administration about the deteriorating security situation and its effect on civilians.

Despite the high-profile spin in Washington and Kabul about progress made in Afghanistan, the Afghan people have only witnessed and suffered an intensifying armed conflict over the past six months. Contrary to President Barrack Obama’s promise that the deployment of additional 30,000 US forces to the country would “disrupt, dismantle and defeat” Taliban insurgents and their al-Qaeda allies in the region, the insurgency has become more resilient, multi-structured and deadly. Information and figures received, verified and analyzed by Afghanistan Rights Monitor (ARM) show about 1,074 civilian people were killed and over 1,500 were injured in armed violence and security incidents from 1 January to 30 June 2010. This shows a slight increase in the number of civilian deaths compared to the same period last year when 1,059 deaths were recorded.

…In terms of insecurity, 2010 has been the worst year since the demise of the Taliban regime in late 2001. Not only have the number of security incidents increased, the space and depth of insurgency and counter-insurgency-related violence have maximized dramatically. Up to 1,200 security incident were recorded in June, the highest number of incident compared to any month since 2002.

The administration and their allies have continuously that “we’re making progress,” “we’re turning the tide,” or “we’ve begun to reverse the insurgents’ momentum,” but the data doesn’t support their assertions. As ARM’s report shows, civilian casualties continue to climb even as more troops flood into the country — troops executing a counterinsurgency (COIN) strategy supposedly premised on “protecting the population.” The rise in troop levels and civilian casualties has been accompanied by an increasingly large and sophisticated insurgency and a widening lead in sympathy or support for the insurgents in key districts of Afghanistan.

Also see Poll: Americans Again Pessimistic on Afghan War, AntiWar.com, July 14, 2010, by Jason Ditz:

After falling to a relatively pessimistic low shortly before his December announcement of the McChrystal Plan and the latest escalation, America’s public perception of the Afghan War had been running comparatively high, with only about half of Americans believing the war was going badly as recently as May.

… Summer is back though, and with June’s record death toll comes a return to pessimism about the war’s prospects. The latest poll shows 62 percent believing the war is going badly now, with only 31 believing it is going well.

The poll also showed a majority of Americans, 54-41, want a timetable for exiting Afghanistan.

Also see India, Pakistan in high-level talk, ABC News.net, July 14, 2010, by Sally Sara: The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan will hold talks later today for the first time since the Mumbai terrorist attacks. (This is the only possibly good news of the day. ~ Paul Evans)

Visit ReThinkAfghanistan.com to see effective, compelling videos about how escalation of the war in Afghanistan and meddling in Pakistan is the wrong move for America.

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Top anti-war Democrat: Afghanistan war could ‘destroy’ Obama’s presidency, The Raw Story, July 12, 2010, by Sahill Kapur, used with permission, quoted verbatim:

WASHINGTON – An outspoken anti-war Democrat said ongoing US military efforts in Afghanistan could deeply imperil the presidency of Barack Obama and the fortunes of the Democratic Party.

“I think that this war, if it goes on and if it escalates, has the potential to destroy this presidency and to destroy the Democratic majorities in Congress,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) told Raw Story in an interview.

The New York congressman, who has called the Afghanistan war a “fool’s errand,” said he has no qualms opposing Obama and Democratic leaders on this sensitive issue ahead of the midterm elections, despite the harsh climate for his party.

“When you’re dealing with war and peace you can’t think of it in those terms,” he said. “People are dying. The security of our country, the honor of our country, the lives of our men and women, the lives of foreign men and women – are at stake. And that’s a lot more important, frankly, than partisan advantage.”

For Nadler, his stance on Afghanistan hearkens back to when he disapproved of US efforts in Vietnam in the 1960s, which President Lyndon Johnson championed and escalated.

“I got into politics opposing a president of my party – a president who was very good in most other respects – over the Vietnam war,” he said.

Military leaders say the US has national security interests in creating a stable central government in Afghanistan, by rooting out Taliban insurgents and ensuring the region doesn’t become a save-haven for Al-Qaeda.

Obama, who has championed the mission and deployed 30,000 additional troops to the region this year, faces a tough political predicament. Recent events have enhanced negative perceptions of the war, but withdrawal may carry with it an admission of failure and lead to forceful attacks from Republicans.

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A House vote on July 1 to approve war funding revealed growing Democratic divisions over the war. Three-fifths of Democrats backed an amendment demanding an exit strategy, which failed due to resolute Republican opposition.

While the president and most members of Congress deem a withdrawal timetable ill-advised, Nadler considers the shift in Democratic perception a positive step. “I think most of the Democratic Party is coming round,” he said.

The Brooklyn native said that while he believes there are political incentives for ending the Afghanistan war, his opposition is based chiefly on harsh realities in the region that make victory unachievable at a reasonable cost, if at all.

“It ought to be stopped for all sorts of reasons, but those political reasons increase the case for stopping it,” Nadler said.

Comment by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: Yes, we know, right now our videos are not showing. We believe it is a hosting issue or perhaps some little snippet of code is not quite right. We are working hard to resolve this issue. Thanks for your patience. ~ Paul

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White House Preparing National Online ID Plan, Information Week, June 25, 2010, by Matthew J. Schwartz, excerpt quoted verbatim:

The proposed system for authenticating people, organizations and infrastructure on the web at the transactional level will require an identity ecosystem.

The Obama administration is set to propose a new system for authenticating people, organizations and infrastructure on the Web. The online authentication and identity management system would be targeted at the transactional level — for example, when someone logs into their banking website or completes an online e-commerce purchase.

Making such a system effective, however, will require creating an “identity ecosystem,” backed by extensive public/private cooperation, said White House cybersecurity coordinator Howard Schmidt, delivering the opening keynote speech at the Symantec Government Symposium 2010 in Washington on Tuesday.

“This strategy cannot exist in isolation,” he said. “It’s going to take all of us working together.” Furthermore, “we should not have to dramatically change the way we do business — this should be a natural path forward,” he said.

That path forward will hinge on a new draft of the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, due to be released Friday for the first time to the public, for a three-week comment period. Formerly known as the National Strategy for Secure Online Transactions, the report offers specific strategy and implementation recommendations, and may also recommend more sweeping policy and privacy changes.

…SNIP….

The report builds on the Obama-commissioned Cyberspace Policy Review, which analyzed the government’s information and communications infrastructure defensive capabilities. One of the report’s recommendations was to “build a cybersecurity-based identity management vision and strategy that addresses privacy and civil liberties interests, leveraging privacy-enhancing technologies for the nation.”

Simply issuing a Web-friendly biometric identification card to everyone in the country, of course, wouldn’t necessarily make anyone or anything more secure, including online transactions. As the report also notes, to be effective, security tools and technology must be complemented by education. “There is always a necessity to do awareness and education of the end user,” said Schmidt. “But you’re not trying to teach the end user how to be a security expert.”

Read the full article here.

Read National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, July 1, 2010.

Commentary by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: Well, kiss the free internet goodbye. I remember well reading “Windows XP for Dummies” where the internet and it’s status as a kind of Wild Wild West was applauded. (I had a lot to learn back then.) Even then, intelligent geeks could see that it wouldn’t last. The capacity and perceived need for control — both financial control (primary) and informational control — is too great. Gee, I guess kiss the torrent downloads goodbye… soon.

Reports: IAF Landed at Saudi Base, US Troops near Iran Border, Arutz Sheva (Israel National News.com, June 23, 2010, by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, excerpt quoted verbatim:

The Israeli Air Force recently unloaded military equipment at a Saudi Arabia base, a semi-official Iranian news agency claimed Wednesday, while a large American force has massed in Azerbaijan, which is on the northwest border of Iran.

Both reports follow by less than a week the Pentagon’s confirmation that an unusually large American fleet sailed through the Suez Canal Saturday. Several reports stated that an Israeli ship joined the armada.

The Pentagon played down the news, saying the American maneuvers were routine. However, a report by Iran on Wednesday that it has enriched dozens of pounds of 17 per cent enriched uranium serves as a reminder that time is running out to stop Iran from being able to produce a nuclear weapon.

Iran’s Fars News Agency said the Israeli military aircraft landed 10 days ago at the Saudi base near the city of Tabuk, located in northwest Saudi Arabia, one of the closest areas in the oil kingdom to Iran.

Fars said that the Tabuk base will be the central station for an Israeli attack on Iran. It quoted an Islamic news site that a commercial airline passenger said the airport in Tabuk was closed to all other traffic during the alleged Israeli landings. The passenger said that “no reasonable explanation” was given for shutting down the airport and those passengers were compensated financially and booked in four-star hotels.

“The relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel have become the talk of the town,” the passenger added. The chief authority in Tabuk, Prince Fahd ben Sultan, was reported be coordinating the cooperation with Israel.

Azerbaijan
Iran’s government-funded Press TV reported that the Revolutionary Guards began closely patrolling the Islamic Republic’s northwestern border after noticing the American forces, which Iran claimed also included Israeli troops. Azerbaijan’s independent Trend news site also reported on Wednesday that American armed forces are in the country, which is in an armed conflict with rebels.

Revolutionary Guards Brigadier General Mehdi Moini said Tuesday that his forces are mobilized “due to the presence of American and Israeli forces on the western border.” The Guards reportedly have called in tanks and anti-aircraft units to the area in what amounts to a war alert.

Read the full article, here.

Report: General McChrystal ‘offered to resign’, The Raw Story, June 22, 2010, by Stephen C. Webster, excerpt quoted verbatim:

General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, has “offered to resign” according to Time magazine’s Joe Klein, who spoke to CNN.

Klein cites an unnamed yet “very reliable” source. The network was working to confirm the claim at time of this writing.

An earlier version of this story cited Klein in reporting that McChrystal had already resigned. Klein, via Twitter, later issued a “clarification.”

General McChrystal was summoned to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday morning after an unflattering profile by Rolling Stone magazine quoted him mocking Vice President Joe Biden, and his aides slamming Obama and other officials.

In the feature, McChrystal jokes sarcastically about preparing to answer a question referring to Vice President Joe Biden, known as a skeptic of the commander’s war strategy.

“‘Are you asking about Vice President Biden?’ McChrystal says with a laugh. ‘Who’s that?’” the article quotes him as saying.

“‘Biden?’ suggests a top adviser. ‘Did you say: Bite Me?’”

McChrystal tells the magazine that he felt “betrayed” by the US ambassador to Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, in a White House debate over war strategy last year.

Referring to a leaked internal memo from Eikenberry that questioned McChrystal’s request for more troops, the commander suggested the ambassador had tried to protect himself for history’s sake.

“I like Karl, I’ve known him for years, but they’d never said anything like that to us before,” McChrystal tells the magazine.

“Here’s one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, ‘I told you so.’”

Eikenberry, himself a former commander in Afghanisan, had written to the White House saying Afghan President Hamid Karzai was an unreliable partner and that a surge of troops could draw the United States into a open-ended quagmire.

The article revisits the friction between the White House and the military last fall as Obama debated whether to grant McChrystal’s request for tens of thousands of reinforcements.

Read the full story, here.”

See Breaking: General Stanley McChrystal tenders his resignation, Telegraph.co.uk, June 22, 2010, by Toby Harnden.

See Robert Gates statement: General Stanley McChrystal survives for now, Telegraph.co.uk, June 22, 2010, by Toby Harnden, with full statement by Robert Gates, excerpt quoted verbatim:

The tide could be turning on this issue. Reading the full (Rolling Stone) article, it is clear that most of the worst comments are by McChrystal aides and not the general himself. The piece is written with a clear anti-war animus and agenda – it is extremely surprising that neither the Pentagon nor McChrystal’s staff are pushing back against Rolling Stone (though Team McChrystal is doubtless in disarray – his top civilian press aide Duncan Boothby has already resigned).

Robert Gates, the Pentagon chief, is clearly very angry but the terms “significant mistake” and “poor judgement” are an indication that McChrystal could – just – survive this.

But see McChrystal likely to resign over magazine comments, source says, CNN, June 23, 2010, by CNN Wire Staff, excerpt quoted verbatim:

Washington (CNN) — America’s top military commander in Afghanistan is unlikely to survive the fallout from remarks he made about colleagues in a magazine profile to be published Friday, according to a Pentagon source who has ongoing contacts with the general.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal will likely resign Wednesday, the source said. McChrystal’s fate is expected to hinge on a meeting scheduled Wednesday with President Obama, who was “angry” after reading the general’s remarks in Rolling Stone.

The “magnitude and graveness” of McChrystal’s mistake in conducting the interview for the article were “profound,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said McChrystal had “made a significant mistake and exercised poor judgment.”

Highly recommended: Obama & Insubordination: Is He Truman or Mr. Milquetoast?, CommonDreams.org, June 23, 2020, by Ray McGovern, excerpt quoted verbatim:

Journalist Michael Hastings has given Rolling Stone magazine a graphic account of the arrogance, disarray and ineptitude that distinguish what passes for President Barack Obama’s policy on Afghanistan. For those of us with some gray in our hair, the fiasco is infuriatingly reminiscent of Vietnam.

In blowing off steam to Hastings, NATO/U.S. commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal and his top aides seem to have decided that, at this low point in the Afghanistan quagmire, political offense is the best defense for a military strategy sinking from waist to neck deep. In interviews with Hastings, McChrystal and his team direct mockery at many senior-level officials of the Obama administration. For instance, one of McChrystal’s aides refers to Obama’s national security adviser James L. Jones as a “clown.”

Members of McChrystal’s inner circle also quote the general as saying he was “pretty disappointed” with an Oval Office meeting and describing Obama as “intimidated” by McChrystal and other generals. Commenting on the controversy Tuesday, Obama said McChrystal and his team had shown “poor judgment” but the President added that he wanted to speak with McChrystal directly before making any decision on firing him. That happens today, according to press reports.

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Message to Obama, Karzai and Congress: Americans and Afghans Need Jobs, Not War, CommonDreams.org, May 12, 2010, by Code Pink:

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan is in Washington this week to meet with the Obama administration and Congress about the status of the war. Despite the platitudes coming from both sides, the conflict is intractable and there is no military solution. President Karzai is well aware of this, which is why he is organizing a peace gathering (called a jirga) in Afghanistan starting on May 20 to set the ground rules for negotiating with the Taliban and other armed insurgents.

After much pressure by Afghan women, 200 of them have won the right to be represented at the 1,200-person peace jirga. CODEPINK supports the jirga as a step in the process of negotiating a settlement and the reintegration of insurgents while demanding respect for women’s rights.

This is a delicate process that requires the full commitment and energy from the U.S. government. Instead, our government is focusing on a new military offensive. The looming June military attack against Kandahar will undoubtedly lead to the death of more innocent Afghans; it will lead to the spilling of more of our soldiers’ blood; and it will lead to more resentment and blowback against us, as we saw in the attempted Times Square bombing.

Just look at what happened in Marjah, where February’s offensive left locals feeling more negative about NATO forces than before the operation. Unlike Marjah, Kandahar is one of Afghanistan’s largest cities and the potential for massive civilian casualties is frightening. Tribal leaders and the public in Kandahar are strongly opposed to the forthcoming attack.

We call on President Obama , the Commander-in-Chief, to call off the Kandahar offensive and instead focus on peace talks. We need President Obama to protect us from terrorist attacks here at home, not wage endless wars overseas.

We call on President Karzai to promote a reconciliation process that ensures Afghan women a prominent place at the table and protects women’s rights. President Karzai should also promote economic policies that provide jobs for women, especially the over one million war widows who are desperately trying to care for their children.

We call on Congress to stop funding the war. Congress has been asked by the Administration to approve a $33 billion supplemental request. The money is supposed to pay for the 30,000 additional troops President Obama ordered to Afghanistan in December and are now starting to arrive for the offensive. Congress must take a stand and refuse to fund the war.

We also call on our Congressional representatives to co-sponsor the McGovern-Feingold bill (HR 5015, S.3197) requiring the President to provide a plan and timetable for “the safe, orderly and expeditious redeployment of US troops from Afghanistan.” There are presently 82 co-sponsors of this bill. We hope over 100 representatives will sign on, and the bill will generate a long overdue Congressional debate about the need to end this war.

We call on the American people to join us in calling for jobs, not war. After 9 years of U.S. occupation, Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world. They need jobs, not war. The American people are suffering from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We need jobs, not war. With just a fraction of the over $270 billion we have spent on this war (www.costofwar.com), we could be creating millions of jobs for both Americans and Afghans.

Let’s demand that our leaders put an end to this war and instead protect us here at home. Let’s tell them our national security includes a good education system, clean energy, healthcare and putting people to work in productive jobs that improve the lives of our communities.

CODEPINK is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities.

See Obama’s Afghanistan: No Political Strategy, No Benchmarks, No End Point, Politics Daily, May 12, 2010, by David Wood, excerpt quoted verbatim:

Afghan President Karzai’s meetings in Washington this week ended with no sign of a badly needed joint political strategy to buttress the U.S.-led military campaign.

In official meetings and public appearances over two days, neither Karzai nor administration officials defined what they want Afghanistan to look like in one year, or five, or 10. Nor did anyone mention benchmarks that could help chart progress or lack of progress toward that goal.

See Afghanistan Crossroads: Highlights from Karzai’s meeting with Obama, CNN, May 12, 2010, by CNN Wire staff.

See Karzai, Clinton wrap up visit in televised meeting, AP News hosted on Google, May 13, 2010, by Matthew Lee (AP), excerpt quoted verbatim:

WASHINGTON — Afghan President Hamid Karzai is wrapping up a four-day visit to Washington with a televised give-and-take with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The Obama administration has done its best to repair strained relations with the Afghan leader, its partner in the war against militants in Afghanistan. Karzai, meanwhile, will continue to seek to convince Americans that his regime is worth fighting and dying for, with a visit to Arlington National Cemetery and private talks with top lawmakers.

After a Capitol Hill lunch hosted by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., Karzai was to appear with Clinton at the U.S. Institute of Peace for what was billed as a “moderated discussion.” They were expected to talk about the ups and downs of the relationship and the way ahead.

Karzai leaves Washington on Friday. Before heading back to Kabul he is expected to visit Fort Campbell, Ky., home of the 101st Airborne Division, which is going to Afghanistan over the next several weeks, according to U.S. and Afghan officials.

Visit ReThinkAfghanistan.com.

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