On October 7, 2020, the U.S. marked the 19th year of our ENDLESS, UNWINNABLE WAR in Afghanistan. This news was released on October 9, 2020:
This Wednesday marked 19 years since the start of the U.S. war in Afghanistan — that’s 19 years of drone bombings, 19 years of civilian “casualties,” 19 years of death, destruction, and displacement. Since the invasion, over $2 trillion have been needlessly spent, 3.7 million people have been displaced, and 2,000 U.S. servicemembers, 4,000 U.S. contractors, and over 43,000 civilians have been killed. What does the United States have to show for this? Warlords profit from ongoing instability, extremist groups gain new recruits with each drone attack, and the Taliban remains about as strong as it was when the invasion began. Now, U.S. servicemembers are watching as their children are deployed to the same war that they fought in.
Yet after 19 years, we clearly haven’t learned our lesson: while Pentagon contractors have profited handsomely from the COVID-19 crisis, receiving billions of dollars in emergency relief funds with little accountability, Trump announced this week that there would be no new COVID-19 relief bill before the election, condemning the country to continue to suffer. Our priorities are absurdly out of whack. The violence-first approach to U.S. foreign policy has resulted in little but devastation, here and abroad. We need a new approach. It’s time we end endless war, hold those responsible accountable, reinvest in our communities, recommit to peacebuilding, diplomacy, and development, and build a new foreign policy rooted in progresssive values of peace, justice, and equality.
David Lindorff’s article about the U.S.’s persistent refusal to leave Afghanistan:
Kathy Kelly’s article about the unending war in Afghanistan:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/11/26/like-a-rocket-in-the-garden-the-unending-war-in-afghanistan/
Maya Evans’ article about 19 years of war in Afghanistan:
http://vcnv.org/2020/10/14/afghanistan-19-years-of-war-maya-evans/
In July 2020 the U.S. Senate killed an amendment to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan: