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Opposition to occupation of Afghanistan

By Antiwar Working Group of Students for a Democratic Society

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Antiwar Working Group of Students for a Democratic Society.

Not one more death: Stop the bombings now!

US Out of Afghanistan!

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.

For too long, Afghanistan was the ‘forgotten war’. Now the horrible reality that U.S. occupation has created in Afghanistan is impossible to ignore. Every day brings more news of civilian deaths at the hands of the U.S. military. While Afghans starve and suffer in poverty, the corrupt, U.S.-backed puppet government gets rich off drug trafficking. The U.S., in its quest for empire, has brought nothing but misery, poverty and death to Afghanistan. And now President Obama is escalating the war, sending 21,000 more U.S. troops to prevent the hated occupation from collapsing.

We say ‘Enough’! As students and youth, we stand with our sisters and brothers in Afghanistan in their struggle for liberation. Just as we stood up for the people of Iraq and marched, risked arrest, organized day and night, and held sit-ins, blockades, and occupied legislative offices, so too must we now act in support of the people of Afghanistan.

We urge chapters of SDS to do all they can to protest against the criminal U.S. occupation of Afghanistan and raise the demands, “End the occupations now! U.S. out of Iraq and Afghanistan!”

Antiwar Working Group

Students for a Democratic Society

May 12, 2009

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