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In response to the Biden administration suggesting it will not complete the withdrawal of U.S. forces, per the Doha Agreement of February 2020, the Black Alliance for Peace Solidarity Network demands the U.S. end the war in Afghanistan.
The BAP Solidarity Network, comprised of non-African/Black people and organizations who support BAP’s anti-imperialist mission, released a petition today, calling on everyone committed to peace, human rights and common sense, to demand Biden re-start peace talks; immediately withdraw all U.S. forces, private contractors, and other mercenaries; close all U.S. bases; and respect the sovereignty of Afghanistan.
Nearly 20 years ago, the United States invaded the sovereign nation of Afghanistan, initiating decades of violence and occupation. To date, the war has resulted in the deaths of over 100,000 Afghan adults and children, leaving thousands more injured or permanently disabled.
“As usual, it is the people of the United States who are forced to fund these imperialist endeavors,” according to Danny Haiphong, co-coordinator of the BAP Solidarity Network. “The financial cost to U.S. citizens has, so far, edged over $1 trillion, much of it lost in a sink-hole of corruption, or spent enriching military contractors and the financial elite.”
After several months of negotiations, direct peace talks between the Taliban and the U.S.-installed Afghan government finally began this past September. The U.S. news media, Congress, the military-industrial complex, and the foreign-policy community immediately hit out in opposition against Trump’s brokered deal. Now, the Biden administration suggests it will not complete the withdrawal of U.S. forces, which the United States had agreed to when it and the Taliban signed the Doha Agreement in February 2020.
“It is time to stop the lies and for the Biden administration to end this bloody, trillion-dollar war,” says BAP Solidarity Network member Zach Kerner. “The U.S., the most violent country in the world, has been wreaking nothing but violence on the Afghan people for nearly 20 years. But now it is now claiming it cannot move forward on the peace process because of ‘violence.’”
Read the petition below. You may sign it here.
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Demand An End to War in Afghanistan
Nearly 20 years ago, the Bush administration and the U.S. ruling class invaded the sovereign nation of Afghanistan, initiating decades of violence and occupation of the Afghan people. To date, the U.S. empire and its Western allies are complicit in the deaths of over 100,000 Afghan adults and children, leaving thousands more injured or permanently disabled. As usual, it is the people of the United States who are forced to fund these imperialist endeavors: The financial cost to U.S. citizens has so far edged over $1 trillion, much of it lost in a sink-hole of corruption, or spent enriching military contractors and the financial elite (the debt for the war will take years to pay off).
Two decades of repeated U.S. bombing—nearly 50,000 bombs have been dropped on a country the size of Texas—have left Afghanistan with catastrophic levels of poverty, an economy in shambles, and health care workers struggling with the added burden of the pandemic. In 2019 alone, the United States dropped 7,423 bombs and missiles, the most since 2006 (when data became available).
Nearly 3 million Afghans refugees have fled their country to escape the violence, making Afghanistan one of the world’s biggest sources of refugees, and over 2 million Afghans have been internally displaced.
In February 2020, the Trump administration and the Taliban—without the U.S.-dominated Afghan government—signed a peace agreement that called for the scheduled withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign forces. The corporate media, foreign-policy community and other profiteers of the military-industrial complex swiftly criticized the talks. But within days of taking office, the Biden administration signaled the deal is off, citing the importance of supporting a “stable, sovereign, democratic, and secure future for Afghanistan.” That is the same language we hear whenever the United States conspires to overthrow a foreign leader who is hostile to U.S. capital, thereby presenting a threat to U.S. hegemony (see Iraq, Libya, Syria, Chile, Venezuela, to name a few).
The Black Alliance for Peace Solidarity Network, comprised of non-African/Black people and organizations who support BAP’s mission, condemns the continued war and occupation of Afghanistan, as we condemn the use of state violence and militarism against poor and working-class people of all nations. That is why demand the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. and NATO-backed forces from Afghanistan and from the region.
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