Antiwar

Protest 8 years of war with Afghanistan

We are calling for students across the country to protest the 8th anniversary of war with Afghanistan by taking action and demanding that the U.S. get out of Afghanistan now!

October 7th will mark the eighth year that the U.S. has been at war with Afghanistan, under the auspice of fighting "the war on terror." In eight years under occupation, tens of thousands of Afghans have been killed by U.S. air strikes, bombs, and bullets, and the Afghani infrastructure has been devastated.In just one day of this war, May 4, 2009, U.S. air strikes killed over 150 Afghan children, women, men in a village in Farah province.

The war affects us here at home as well. The number of U.S. troop casualties increases more and more each year that the war continues. By next year the cost of the Afghanistan war will be more than the cost of the Iraq war, with the U.S. government requesting $65 billion dollars for the war in 2010. So far the government has spent almost a trillion dollars in the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq. With that money, we could have paid for 35,068,800 four year university scholarships.

We, as students, have a responsibility to the people of Afghanistan to stand up, speak out, and take action against the war! We are calling on all students to sign-on and pledge to take action on October 7th to mark the 8th anniversary of the U.S. invasion. That action could be walking out of classes, occupying buildings, hosting a teach-in or film-showing – any form of protest to show opposition to the Afghanistan war!

The Obama administration is sending a "surge" of 21,000 U.S. troops to fight the insurgency. We know this is not a so-called "just war," but a war for regional domination and control of natural gas reserves in the region. The Afghan people have a right to self-determination, to choose their own leaders and governments and to take care of their own affairs. It is not the place of the U.S. to bomb Afghanistan into submission and to choose its political leaders. The only real way for Afghanistan to be free is for the bombings to halt, and for all U.S. and NATO troops to leave the country immediately.

Help us get the word out - We want money to go to our education, not war and occupation! We want the U.S. out of Afghanistan NOW!

Let us know if your chapter or organization will take action! Contact sdsantiwar@gmail.com or visit or blog at http://www.newsds.org?q=antiwar

The Antiwar Working Group of Students for a Democratic Society condemns in the strongest possible terms the May 4 bombings, carried out by the U.S. military in Afghanistan’s western Farah province, which have resulted in in 147 civilian deaths. Words cannot express the outrage and sadness that we feel. Our deepest condolences go out to the families of those who were killed by the U.S. air force. Our thoughts are with them, and with all occupied peoples of Afghanistan who struggle every day to be free.

What happened on May 4 is not an isolated incident. This bombing is the latest atrocity in a brutal occupation that has killed thousands of Afghans and driven millions from their homes. Unable to win a ground war against a guerrilla army, the U.S. is resorting to wide-scale air strikes. The inevitable result is a huge increase in civilian casualties. U.S. military reports show the air force dropped 438 bombs in Afghanistan in April alone, while 163 tons dropped in 2004 went up to 1,956 in 2007.