Seventeen years ago, the United States went to war in Afghanistan.
This war is still raging. At seventeen years, it’s the longest war in U.S. history. This war has cost countless lives and forced a entire generation of Afghan and American young people to grow up in the shadow of violence. Even the former top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan said that we must end this war. [1]
Today, we demand that our Members of Congress mark the anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan by acting to end this war now.
Here’s what’s different about today than the past seventeen years. This country is about to see a potentially monumental midterm election, that could break the stalemate in Congress that’s blocked efforts to end the war.
For seventeen years, our Members of Congress have been willing to gamble countless American and Afghan lives to avoid simply doing their job and voting on this war. That ends today.
Let’s set a new status quo for the new Congress by demanding an end to the U.S. war in Afghanistan. And let’s make it our baseline for what it means to be a foreign policy leader.
Go to https://act.winwithoutwar.org/act/end-us-war-afghanistan-now to tell Congress: End the U.S. war in Afghanistan NOW.
The simple truth is that no amount of warmaking is going to bring peace to a country that has seen four decades of conflict. We know beyond question that this war cannot be resolved with more bullets and bombs. And it’s time to try something different.
Seventeen years of war means that American children not even born with this war started can now enlist to fight in it. Seventeen years of war means that for their entire lives, the young people of Afghanistan have only ever known a time when American bombs were falling on their country. Seventeen years ago, 40% of Afghans feared for their personal safety; today, nearly twice as many do. U.S. war has forced an entire generation of Afghan youth to grow up under fear and violence.
Despite continuous war and dehumanization, the Afghan people are envisioning a future free of conflict. This spring, a multi-generational group of Afghan activists completed a “peace walk” across the country. Afghan girls and women delivered flowers to the Taliban requesting an extension to the ceasefire for Eid al-Fitr [2].
We should be uplifting the demands of Afghan activists fighting for peace against all odds by insisting that our elected leaders use their power to end this war. This is our moment to act.
U.S. militarism, following generations of Soviet and British invasions, has exacerbated decades-long cycles of violence in Afghanistan that have killed and hurt far too many. Afghan youth deserve to live free of war and to heal their psyches, bodies, lands, and infrastructure from the scars of war. And American servicemembers deserve not to be asked to die for a war that cannot be won.
Seventeen years is far, far too long for any war, particularly one this futile. Let today mark an end to it.
[1] New York Times, “‘Time for This War in Afghanistan to End,’ Says Departing U.S. Commander” [2] Truth Out, “How Afghanistan’s Peace Movement Is Winning Hearts and Minds“
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