Afghanistan and Pakistan – the war spreads

bristol | peace | announcement Monday July 06, 2009 19:05 by info@bristolstopwar

Bristol Stop The War Coalition Public Meeting

'Afghanistan and Pakistan – the war spreads'

Speakers: Mohammad Asif (Chair, UK Afghan Democracy & Reform Movement)
Others to be announced

Venue: Barton Hill Settlement, 41-43 Ducie Rd, Lawrence Hill, Bristol, BS5 0AX

Date: Monday 20th July
Time: 7.30pm

Map: http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=BS5+0AX&countryCode=GB

Flyer: http://bristol.indymedia.org/attachments/jul2009/afghan...9.jpg

Buses: 36 & 36A from Centre stop the Settlement; 6, 7, 41, 42,43,44,45 from Centre stop at Lawrence Hill railway bridge.

Train: Severn Beach line to Lawrence Hill.

AfghanistanPakistanFlyer

This is an important opportunity to hear a prominent Afghan, living in Britain, speak out against the occupation of his country by the US and Britain.

MOHAMMAD ASIF is the chair of the UK Afghan Democracy & Reform Movement, founded recently by Afghans from all over the UK at a large public meeting in London. The organisation plans to give a platform to Afghans all over the world to help bring reform and democracy to Afghanistan, exposing the corruption, poverty, extra judicial killing, abduction of political dissidents, rape and murder of innocents and many more in Afghanistan. They plan to work with other democratic groups and organisations around the world trying to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan. They will work to end the illegal invasion of Afghanistan by the USA and Britain in a peaceful and democratic manner and to establish a united Afghanistan.

The US escalation of the war in Afghanistan promised by Barak Obama has started with a large scale attack in Helmand province. Thousands of Afghans have died in the years since the invasion of 2001 and British casualties are at their highest level for many years. Commanders openly admit that no military victory is possible. We are continually told that this is a 'good', 'humanitarian' 'winnable', war compared with the fiasco in Iraq. In reality, the war is about enforcing US power and influence in the region. The occupying armies are as unpopular in Afghanistan as they are in Iraq.

Gordon Brown and army chiefs still insist "we're winning", but the British officer Lieutenant General Jim Dutton, who is NATO's deputy commander in Afghanistan, warned recently that the violence will get worse in the coming months. Very bad news for the Afghan people, for whom 2009 has been the bloodiest since the 2001 invasion. (See http://bit.ly/11Pm8m)

Brown has no idea, any more than his US masters, what "winning" would look like. There is only one solution to the escalating levels of death and destruction: the complete withdrawal of all foreign troops.

The US, NATO and their allies in the Afghan government hold little sway over Afghanistan outside Kabul. Heavy casualties from air strikes fuel growing anger, as do “night raids” – assaults on villages suspected of harbouring resistance fighters. Even sections of the capital are beginning to slip away from their control.

It was revealed recently that British pilots in Afghanistan are firing an increasing number of "enhanced blast" thermobaric weapons, designed to kill everyone in buildings they strike. Human rights groups have serious concerns that civilians are dying at the hands of some kind of terror weapon. See: http://bit.ly/r9kPS

At the same time, the US have begun to extend the war into Pakistan, causing further death and suffering and de-stabilising that country. In Pakistan, like Afghanistan, most of the US air attacks hit civilian targets with heavy casualties. See http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/1316/1/.

Sign Stop The War's 'TROOPS OUT OF AFGHANISTAN' petition at http://bit.ly/ft6BP
Download for collecting signatures here: http://bit.ly/rNaTZ