Afghanistan

January 26th, 2010
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The intensification and spread of the armed conflict in Afghanistan continued to take a heavy toll on civilians throughout 2009. At least 5,978 civilians were killed and injured in 2009, the highest number of civilian casualties recorded since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. Afghans in the southern part of the country, where the conflict is the most intense, were the most severely affected. Nearly half of all civilian casualties, namely 45%, occurred in the southern region. High casualty figures have also been reported in the southeastern (15%), eastern (10%), central (12%) and western (8%) regions. Previously stable areas, such as the northeast, have also witnessed increasing insecurity, such as in Kunduz Province. In addition to a growing number of civilian casualties, conflict-affected populations have also experienced loss of livelihood, displacement, and destruction of property and personal assets.

December 21, 2009

This report is the result of the monitoring conducted by the Human Rights Field Monitoring (HRFM) team of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) on the state of economic and social rights in Afghanistan. AIHRC regional and provincial field staff members have accepted many risks, including physical security, to visit different parts of the country and monitor the socioeconomic situation of people.

Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Time: 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Location: 200 S Dearborn

The U.S. war in Afghanistan is over 8 years old and a certified disaster for Afghani civilians and Western troops alike. Despite an anti-war majority in the United States, the Obama administration is now getting set to send tens of thousands more troops and urging already reluctant allies to do the same.

Besides causing more death and destruction, this surge will only reinforce Afghanis’ legitimate hatred of the decades of foreign domination that their country has endured. Billions that might have gone for healthcare, jobs, education and housing both in the U.S. and Afghanistan will once again be sucked into the military budget vortex, with Obama escalating the record military spending of the previous administration.

By Gene Stoltzfus

November 26, 2009

Corruption usually gets worse in war because people’s survival instinct tell them to think short term and clutch at every opportunity for golden nuggets, money, or anything that has value and can be traded. I doubt that the $500 dollar per day civilian advisors will stamp out survival corruption. I have not heard evidence that these pricy civilians are any more prepared with communication, culture and corruption medicine than I was 45 years ago. An Afghan’s monthly salary is less than half the amount a U. S. aid worker earns each day. It costs about $500,000 per year to put these pricy civilian advisors and corruption doctors in the field, including the cost of their housing, transport, and security (usually provided by even higher paid contractors). A soldier costs the American people about one million dollars per year.

But Will D.C. Rally Spark Groundswell?
by Eli Saslow
October 7, 2009
Washington Post
View picture gallery Sarah L. Voisin-The Washington Post

The protesters convened for a final planning meeting, already triumphant, convinced that nine months of preparation was about to pay off. Antiwar organizers who had come to Washington from 27 states exchanged hugs inside a Columbia Heights convention hall and modeled their protest costumes: orange jumpsuits, “death masks,” shackles and T-shirts depicting bloody Afghan children. Then Pete Perry, the event organizer, stood up to deliver a welcome speech.

“This is a great moment for our movement,” he said. “We are continuing an incredible tradition.”

“Like Gandhi,” said the next speaker.

“Like Martin Luther King,” said another.

By Dana Milbank of The Washington Post

October 6, 2009

Sarah L. Voisin/Washington Post

It was a scene repeated countless times during the Bush years:

A few hundred people massed on Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House, wearing orange jumpsuits and hoods, holding photos of wounded children or carrying coffins. They chanted antiwar slogans, acted out waterboarding and pretended to die on the sidewalk. Those who refused orders to leave the area - including ubiquitous activist Cindy Sheehan - were arrested.

But the remarkable thing about this familiar antiwar demonstration is that it occurred Monday, and the target was not George W. Bush but the White House’s current occupant. Protesters’ signs carried Obama-specific barbs: “Change? What Change?” “The Audacity of War Crimes.” “Yes We Can: U.S. Out of Afghanistan.”

By Garance Franke-Ruta

October 5, 2009

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

“Cheerleaders for the war refuse to acknowledge that there could be any viable strategy other than a bigger and bigger military footprint. …” the group said in the letter. “The hawks are making their position heard. Now, the majority of Americans — those of us who are for as quick and as responsible an end to the war as possible — need to make our voices heard, too.”

September 8, 2009

On Wednesday, President Obama will address a joint session of Congress on health care. Later this year he will decide whether to deploy additional troops to the war in Afghanistan, on top of the 69,000 troops already deployed. The struggle for health care and the struggle to end warfare are inextricably linked. The cost for substantive (though imperfect) health care reform as envisioned in the House of Representatives approach (with the public option) is projected to average $100 billion per year for the next 10 years. The cost to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are projected to cost anywhere from $55 to $100 billion a year. With a few modest reductions to the baseline military budget and the difference is paid.

The choice is clear: health care or warfare; the Common Good or Common Destruction.

August 20th, 2009

According to a Senate Committee on Foreign Relations report released on August 11th, 2009, the US has put 50 Afghan drug traffickers on a “kill or capture” list. This shift in America’s counter-narcotics drive in Afghanistan is designed to cut off the flow of money to the Taliban. Drug dealers who have proven links to the Taliban are placed on the “joint integrated prioritized target list” and can be shot on site.

August 6, 2009

Portage Daily Register Imagine for a moment how simple, less costly and environmentally friendly your life could be if you got rid of your car and instead used a bicycle.

That’s the life five Chicago residents are living as they use their bicycles this week to travel from their home to Camp Douglas. The bicyclists stopped briefly in Portage on Wednesday afternoon on the fourth day of the five-day journey.

The five are traveling via bicycle to participate in a three-day Walk for Peace that takes place this weekend from Camp Williams to Fort McCoy. The walk is in support of the 32nd Brigade Combat Team of the Wisconsin National Guard, which is deployed to Iraq.