<div dir="ltr"><br>More and more during the current election year, talk of drawing down US
forces in Iraq has been paired with a call for bolstering US/NATO
forces in Afghanistan. Within the HAW Steering Committee, there is
strong sentiment against such a buildup, and most members personally
favor an end to the US military presence in Afghanistan altogether.
However, we have not taken an official position because we would like
to involve more HAW members in the discussion.<br>
<br>The points set forth below
were proposed by one member of the Steering Committee and were found by
other members to be helpful in framing the discussion.<br>
<br>The Steering Committee would like to invite feedback over the next
two weeks (September 5 - September 20) on any of the discussion points
or more generally on the question of US policy in Afghanistan. Please
send any comments to <a href="mailto:afghanistan@historiansagainstwar.org" target="_blank">afghanistan@historiansagainstwar.org</a>. <br><br>Thanks,<br>Jim O'Brien for the HAW Steering Committee<br>
<br>
<br><div><p> </p>
<p>Discussion Points</p>
<p>1. <span> </span>Whatever views we hold on the
initial US military intervention in Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11
attacks in the US, it is now clear that the US/NATO presence in this country
has become an occupation, increasingly resented and opposed by large sections
of the population.</p>
<p>2. <span> </span>Despite the relief that met
removal of the totalitarian Taliban government by US and NATO forces, the new
government, chosen under the direction of the Bush administration, has
distanced itself from the people, is rent with corruption, and barely governs
anything. Outside of Kabul, warlords and criminal elements operate with
impunity, the opium trade grows, violence -- including violence by the
occupation forces -- proliferates, and the Taliban is resurgent.</p>
<p>3. <span> </span>The purpose of US policy in
Afghanistan is not to support the self-determination of the Afghan people, but
to extend the bankrupt global war against terror deeper into Central Asia, and
to strengthen US geopolitical power in this region.</p>
<p>4. <span> </span>The US/NATO war on Afghanistan is
not a "good war" in contrast to the "bad war" on Iraq, and the current
consensus in higher political circles, including both major party candidates
for president, that the war in Afghanistan must be escalated, is wrong and will
only deepen the regional crisis and suffering of the Afghan people.</p>
<p>5. <span> </span>The US and NATO must immediately
withdraw their military and political assets from Afghanistan so that the
Afghan people can have room to decide their own future. <span> </span>Continued US/NATO action in the country is a
large part of the problem and cannot be the solution. <span> </span>[There has been subsequent discussion of what "immediately"
might mean in practical terms: <span> </span>for
example, beginning immediately and completed between, say, six months, or a
year.]</p>
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