Afghanistan: News, Comment and Analysis
What Obama didn't say when collecting his peace prize
"The United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms. The service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has promoted peace and prosperity and enabled democracy to take hold." Now explain this video.
Why the war president deserves his Nobel Peace Prize
On Thursday 10 December, President Obama travels to Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, one week after announcing he is escalating the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan and threatening attacks against Somalia and Yemen.
Why have 100 British soldiers died in Afghanistan this year?
Gordon Brown claims the 100th British soldier to die this year in Afghanistan died "doing what is right for Britain". He didn't. He died to save the face of politicians like Brown who cannot face admitting that the 100th soldier to die lost his life in a pointless war, as did all the other British soldiers and countless thousands of Afghans who have been killed in the past eight years.
Drug-addicted non-existent army is Afghanistan escape plan
Sending more troops to Afghanistan is Obama and Brown's exit strategy. The troops will slow the Taliban’s advances, they say, providing time to train Afghan forces to take over the fight, allowing the Americans and British to leave. Just one problem: it isn't going to happen.
Did Bush's speech writers write Obama's Afghanistan speech?
Who said this? America will speak out on behalf of human rights, and tend to the light of freedom, and justice, and opportunity, and respect for the dignity of all peoples. That is who we are. That is the moral source of America's authority.
Or this? America is a Nation with a mission, and that mission comes from our most basic beliefs. We understand our special calling: This great Republic will lead the cause of freedom.
US antiwar groups deliver open letter to President Obama
Representatives of 34 anti-war groups send open letter to Obama: We will do everything in our power, as nonviolent peace activists, to build the kind of massive movement -- which today represents the sentiments of a majority of the American people -- that will play a key role in ending the US war in Afghanistan.
Obama's "exit strategy" promises nothing but war without end
The lesson of history that Obama and Brown refuse to learn is that the people of Afghanistan never accept occupation by foreign powers. Obama has now committed the United States and its allies to many more years before that lesson is learnt yet again, too late for the thousands who will be killed and maimed or have their lives devastated by a futile and unjustified war.
Obama's war speech: as ever it will end in oceans of blood
So, you thought Obama was going to be different – that he represented "change"? Well, in the end, you got the same blood and thunder. The "war on terror" continues by any other name.
This is now Obama's War, in lockstep with the neocons
"Naturally the common people don't want war ... the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." -- Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering in 1945
A troop surge can only magnify the crime against Afghanistan
If Barack Obama heralds an escalation of the war, he will betray his own message of hope and deepen my people's pain, says Malalai Joya
How to spend 3 trillion dollars on war in under 3 minutes
If the mass slaughter won't deter Barack Obama from escalating the war in Afghanistan, will the scale of the financial cost give him pause for thought?
Hell comes home to America from Iraq and Afghanistan
What we've done to the Iraqis and Afghanis, we've also done to ourselves. 20% of US soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have PTSD or depression. Some are trapped in a personal Abu Ghraib, and some will try to shoot their way out.
This is now Obama's war. The failure will be his, the cost ours. The tragedy will be Afghanistan's.
We are bogged down in Afghanistan in a war that is not only unwinnable, but even undefinable. The longer a war goes on, the more difficult it is to end, but Obama has already foreclosed the one option that the situation demands, which is withdrawal.
Britain has been the patsy, the poodle and the dumb ally in America's wars
The war in Afghanistan was never to be won, any more than that in Iraq. The agony is not over yet, but the end cannot begin until the invaders depart. That will happen only when the pain outweighs the pride. The question is, how many corpses will that take?
How many more soldiers will die supporting this Afghan crook?
How many more British soldiers will die like 23-year-old Andrew Fentiman, who was killed in Afghanistan on 15 November 2009? He made the "ultimate sacrifice" after just two weeks in the country helping to prop up the regime of President Hamid Karzai -- a crook re-elected on a sea of fraud and corruption, but who is still "pledged full UK support" by Gordon Brown.
Gordon Brown's Afghanistan gibberish by Mark Steel
Stop opium, install democracy, women's rights, stop terrorist attacks in Britain -- how many more reasons will Gordon Brown give for a futile and unwinnable war?
Seven out of 10 in Britain want troops out of Afghanistan
71% want the troops out and 47% think the threat of terrorism on UK soil is increased by British forces remaining in Afghanistan.
Anti-war protest at NATO's summit in Edinburgh
Politicians, families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan, trade unions, students and anti-nuclear groups joined the No To NATO protest on Saturday 14 November 2009, called by Stop the War Scotland.
Dear L/Cpl Joe Glenton, you are an inspiration to us all
Messages of support are pouring in for Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, who has been arrested for refusing to return to Afghanistan, leading an anti-war demonstration in London on 24 October 2009 and speaking to the media in defiance of orders. The charges carry a maximum of ten years imprisonment.
The purpose of the poppy is to sentimentalise slaughter
Britain's Remembrance Day, also called Poppy Day, was inaugurated to mark the end of the World War 1 in 1918. We should remember the dead but the purpose of the poppy is to sentimentalise slaughter, to conceal a crime against humanity under a cloak of soft emotion.
Afghan people want immediate end to US occupation
Malalai Joya was elected an Afghan MP in 2005 but suspended from office in 2007 for her criticism of the warlords that dominate the Afghanistan parliament. She is the survivor of four assassination attempts.
Afghanistan's "bravest woman" supports anti-war soldier
Support is flooding in for Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, who has been arrested and charged for speaking out against the war in Afghanistan.
Soldier arrested for speaking out against the Afghan war
Generals are free to speak to the media to defend sending soldiers to war but when a soldier speaks out he faces ten years in prison.
Why should I be pressured into wearing a poppy?
We must respect our fallen soldiers by wearing a red poppy say those waging wars that create a new generation of dead soldiers to remember, says Mark Steel.
Why Are We in Afghanistan? The Great Debate.
Stop the War Coalition has issued a challenge to all the three main political parties to participate in a series of debates across the country which will ask the following question: Why are British armed forces continuing to fight in Afghanistan, the world's second poorest country, after eight years of war and with escalating casualty figures?
Time to leave Afghanistan to the Afghans
It is time to say that this war is ill-conceived, unwinnable and counterproductive", says the Independent on Sunday, the first UK national newspaper to call for British troops to quit Afghanistan. "What ultimately happens in Afghanistan should be left to the Afghans."
Why Are We in Afghanistan? The Great Debate.
Time to leave Afghanistan to the Afghans
Why should I be pressured into wearing a poppy?
We must respect our fallen soldiers by wearing a red poppy say those waging wars that create a new generation of dead soldiers to remember.
Misleading the British people or not fit to be prime minister?
There is only one conclusion to draw from Gordon Brown's speech on 6 November 2009. Either he is deliberately misleading the British people or else he is so badly informed about Afghanistan that he isn’t fit to be a prime minister sending soldiers to kill and be killed in a foreign country.
From Vietnam to Afghanistan: why Obama will send more troops to fight an unwinnable war
Daniel Ellsberg, the military advisor who leaked the Pentagon Papers about the Vietnam war, which eventually lead to the downfall of President Richard Nixon, explains why Barack Obama will send more troops to fight a war he knows cannot be won and why he will not withdraw from Afghanistan, even though he knows it would be in America's best interests.
How much more blood on Gordon Brown's hands will it take?
Five more British soldiers killed, this time by an Afghan policeman. How many more pointless deaths will it take before Gorden Brown admits the war in Afghanistan cannot be won and brings the troops home?
A Taliban propagandist couldn't make this stuff up
Afghanistan's comically fraudulent election is won by the fraudster! With foreigners visibly involved in the process, the words "occupation," "puppet government," and the like undoubtedly ring ever truer in Afghan ears, you don’t have to be a propaganda genius to exploit this sort of thing. And this is the "democracy" dozens of UK and US soldiers died to protect!
What Matthew Hoh says is irrefutable: but is Obama listening?
"Thousands of our men and women have returned home with physical and mental wounds, some that will never heal or will only worsen with time. The dead return only in bodily form to be received by families who must be reassured their dead have sacrificed for a purpose worthy of futures lost, love vanished, and promised dreams unkept. I have lost my confidence such assurances can anymore be made. As such, I submit my resignation."
Soldiers support lance corporal refusing to return to Afghanistan
After calling for a complete withdrawal of troops at Stop the War's Troops Out Now demonstration on 24 October, Lance Corporal Joe Glenton feared a hostile reaction when he returned to barracks, but instead of being branded a coward he was applauded by fellow soldiers.
Voices of conscience: Matthew Hoh and L/Cpl Joe Glenton
Sometimes it's the more junior government employees who have the strength of character and courage to tell their Presidents and Prime Ministers when they and their policies have no clothes.
Defend L/Cpl Joe Glenton under attack by the warmongers
Conservative shadow defence secretary says it's "appalling" that L/Cpl Joe Glenton led the Stop the War Bring the Troops Home demonstration on 24 October. What is appalling is armchair warriors like Fox continuing to support a senseless and unwinnable war.
Attack of the Obama drones: covering up the grisly facts
Drone surveillance is fast becoming the excuse for an extended American presence over Iraq and Afghanistan. But the US military's certainty of the drones' effectiveness is difficult to take on trust, when it neither counts nor identifies those killed.
24 October 2009 demonstration: The virtual reality version
For those who weren't on the Bring the Troops Home demonstration, calling for all troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan, here's a film which captures what a great day they missed.
24 October 2009: Bring the Troops Home from Afghanistan demonstration: speeches in Trafalgar Square
Video of speeches by Tony Benn, L/Cpl Joe Glenton, Tariq Ali, George Galloway MP, Seumas Milne, Lindsey German, military families
24 October 2009: widespread media coverage for landmark Afghanistan demonstration
Stop the War's demonstration on 24 October 2009 brought the centre of London to a standstill. It was a landmark demonstration, led by Lance Corporal Joe Glenton -- the first serving soldier in the British army to join an anti-war march.
Thousands demonstrate as 62% in Britain say bring troops home
On the day that a new opinion poll showed that two-thirds of people in Britain want the troops brought home from Afghanistan and 84% think British troops are losing the war, thousands of protesters from across the country joined the Bring the Troops Home demonstration in central London on 24 October.
Soldier will defy military orders to join demonstration
Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, who is facing a court martial because he refuses to return to fight in Afghanistan, will defy military orders from his commanding officer and join the 24 October demonstration. "I am marching to send a message to Gordon Brown. Instead of sending more troops, he must bring them all home. I’m proud to be marching again - this time with Stop the War."
Why can't Afghanistan be more like Sweden?
If Osama bin Laden cannot be found, if the Taliban cannot be eliminated, if troops cannot be withdrawn, if victory cannot be declared, then western leaders must find a reason for soldiers to die.
An important step for democracy? What planet is Obama on?
Is the Afghan election runoff an important step forward for democracy, as Obama says? Or is it a desperate attempt to portray Obama's imminent troop surge -- his second in nine months -- as support for a 'legitimate' Afghan government, however undemocratic and corrupt it may be? Sharon Smith exposes the reality behind Obama's rhetoric and deception, and explains why the US-led occupiers are never going to be the means for establishing democracy in Afghanistan.
Watch this and know why we demonstrate on 24 October
This two-minute video shows the consequences of a futile and unjustified war for the Afghan people -- in this case a woman and an eight-year-old child. The US army predictably claimed that civilians died because the occupying forces came under Taliban attack. Afghan witnesses and grieving relatives say this is a lie.
In a war for democracy, why worry about public opinion?
Escalation in Afghanistan is aimed at rescuing the credibility of western power, whatever Afghans or westerners might want.
Tony Blair's man in America says Afghan War is futile
Will Sir Christopher Meyer, former British ambassador to Washington, join the Stop the War demonstration on 24 October?
Military father who snubbed Tony Blair says why he will demonstrate in London on 24 October
Peter Brierley, whose son Shaun was killed in Iraq in 2003, made headlines last week by accusing Tony Blair of having blood on his hands at an Iraq war commemoration service. Peter spoke to Siân Ruddick about his opposition to the "war on terror"
The war in Afghanistan stinks: the sooner it ends, the better
The Afghan war has no real bearing on western security and is merely cover for politicians to avoid confronting their past mistakes. Perhaps the Nobel peace prize could at last vindicate itself. Perhaps Obama will refuse to continue the slaughter in Afghanistan and accept that it is time to go home and earn his award.
Peace president on his way to tripling troops in Afghanistan
The US does everything bigger than other nations -- even failure. Obama seems poised to raise the occupation force to one larger than even the failed Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
How to win the war: pay the Taliban $20 each to stay at home
Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama spends much of his time these days in meetings of his war council, which has met five times in the last two weeks. His current search for peace in Afghanistan seems to involve deciding how many more US soldiers should be deployed there to wage more war. But maybe there's a cheaper option.
Barack Obama wins the Nobel War Prize for Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, Palestine...
The Nobel Committee has awarded the 2009 Peace Prize to President Obama, the person who started a new war in Pakistan, upped the war in Afghanistan, and continues to threaten Iran with attack unless Iran does what the US government demands and relinquishes its rights as a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty.
Rethink Afghanistan
Rethink Afghanistan is an important documentary by Brave New Films which all those politicians who insist that "failure in Afghanistan is not an option" should be made to watch. It lays bare the reality of a pointless and unwinnable war.
The army sticks its nose in the trough of British politics
A spate of recent media statements by serving and past heads of the British Army are evidence of a campaign by the military to increase troop levels in Afghanistan
Can the war in Afghanistan get any more absurd?
Why are we in Afghanistan? Gordon Brown, obdediently mimicking his US mentors, says it's "To prevent al-Qaeda once again using Afghanistan as a base for terrorist attacks against Britain and other countries." Would this be the same al-Qaida which has less than 100 personnel in the country? Is it for a few dozen of them that over 100,000 US and Nato troops are needed?
The way to win in Afghanistan: train Afghans to kill us
Some of the Afghans being trained by NATO for the army and police do the training to gain the skills and equipment, then disappear to help those forces resisting the occupiers. A few don't even wait to leave before attacking.
More war needed to fight a pointless and unwinnable war
Britain's new head of the Army, General Sir David Richards, has issued a wake-up call to the public: we need more war, more futile deaths and more devastation to continue fighting an unwinnable war in Afghanistan.
Bringing the "democracy" train wreck to Afghanistan
What to do about about a comically fraudulent election? No problem: sack any honest official who objects and declare the fraudster the victor.
Join the Afghanistan police for your three-weeks' quick-fix training and 10% chance of getting killed
Gordon Brown says recruiting tens of thousands of Afghan police and soldiers is the strategy for withdrawing British troops from Afghanistan. What's in it for the Afghan recruits?
The world says: troops home from Afghanistan now
In virtually every country surveyed round the world, from Argentina to the United Kingdom, the majority of people want all foreign troops removed from Afghanistan.
Obama honeymoon is over: US anti-war movement revives
"If Obama looks out of his window, he is going to see a symbol of over 500 soldiers who died in Afghanistan. He is going to know the public is waking up to this war. The honeymoon with Obama is over and the American people are not going to stand for it much longer."
Those the gods would destroy, they first make mad: 500,000 troops and 5 more years to "win" in Afghanistan
Embedded in US General Stanley McChrystal's classified assessment of the war in Afghanistan is his conclusion that a successful counter-insurgency strategy will require 500,000 troops over five years.
Waking up with no legs: losing limbs in a lost war
The deaths of soldiers in Afghanistan are reported in the news with depressing regularity. But what about all the people who are wounded, some of whom suffer terrible injuries? Here are the stories of two who lost limbs, as Barack Obama and Gordon Brown get ready to send more troops to fight a pointless and unwinnable war.
How to win in Afghanistan: get more Afghans doing pushups
Speed up the training of the Afghan National Army so the "Afghans can take responsibility for their own affairs" is the game plan for "winning", but this isn't going to happen. Not now. Not ever.
59 percent in Germany say all troops home now
For Germany to play a truly humanitarian role in Afghanistan, it must withdraw German troops from the country
How a 7-year-old child in Afghanistan learned to hate
"Every moment I hear the voices of my mother, father, sister and brothers calling me, but I can't see them. The Americans killed them and now I am alone."
Americans are finally waking up
Afghanistan is not "the good war" but the stupid one. Bush's corrupt oilmen are still having fun looting Afghanistan. The question for us Americans is: why should anyone die to help them?
Everyone seems to be agreeing with bin Laden these days, except Obama
Robert Fisk says the US president's critics - indeed, for many critics of the West's military occupation of Afghanistan - are beginning to speak in the same language as bin Laden.
If people really knew the truth, the war would be stopped tomorrow
The Afghan war is a fraud. It began as an American vendetta for domestic consumption in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks, in which not a single Afghan was involved, says John Pilger
Time for Barack Obama to retire not just the term "war on terror" but the war itself
Barack Obama has increased troop levels in Afghanistan and delayed Iraq withdrawal. The language that has dominated the last eight years has changed – but the logic persists, says Gary Younge. Having retired the term "war on terror", he must retire the war itself.
Blood, empire and peace in Afghanistan
Public opinion in Britain is turning despite attempts by the government to cynically exploit the grief of the relatives of the British fallen. A clear and growing majority of people want either immediate withdrawal or the running down of troop numbers and a clear date for getting out, writes George Galloway MP.
Now even some neocons are saying time to get out of Afghanistan
George Will, a conservative commentator in the US, who has shocked the neo-con warmongers, with whom he's usually in unqualified agreement, with his article calling for America to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan.
Was this the "new strategy" or the old "new strategy"?
After the killing of 140 civilians in the village of Granai in May, the US military announced a "new stategy" which was to avoid the killing of civilians. Now another "new strategy" is announced as 100 Afghan civilians are killed by a missile attack on two oil tankers.
We've wasted enough lives in this futile war says Labour MP
"Politicians are in denial. They refuse to confront the deep futility of the war. Afghans say: 'Truth is like the sun. When it rises it is impossible to hide it.' It will be some time before truth dawns in our parliament," says Labour MP Paul Flynn.
Barack Obama to Cindy Sheehan: Get Lost
Cindy Sheehan and her fellow anti-warriors mounted a spirited march down the road to Barack Obama’s vacation location at Martha’s Vineyard. The purpose was to present the President with a poster of Cindy bearing a signed plea to end the wars.
George Bush's third term as president? You're living it now
It sounds like the plot for the latest summer horror movie, says David Swanson. Imagine, for a moment, that George W. Bush had been allowed a third term as president, had run and had won or stolen it, and that we were all now living (and dying) through it.
Yet another 'new strategy' doomed to failure
Top US commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal admitted that the current strategy, which was itself a new strategy presented only five months ago to replace the previous new strategy, isn’t working at that yet another new strategy is needed.
And it's 1-2-3 what are we fighting for? Don't ask me, I don't give a damn, next stop is Afghanistan
The US, meanwhile, is identified as an occupier and as the sole support of a corrupt regime of drug lords, thieves and charlatans. Does this sound familiar? It should. It is a replay of what America did in Vietnam.
The questions they can't answer
Why are we in Afghanistan? How long will it take? When will we know we've won?
How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Afghanistan?
Video comparing Rick Reyes statement earlier this year to the US Congress Foreign Relations Committee to the legendary testimony to the same committee made by soldier John Kerry in 1971, then returned from the Vietnam War.
Obama says Afghanistan is a war of necessity. Six reasons why he is wrong.
President Obama defends U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, calling it a "war of necessity." Not only is it "a war worth fighting... It is fundamental to the defense of our people." Here are six reasons why he is wrong.
Unnecessary, cruel, endless war. Time to go home.
We can't solve Afghanistan's social or political problems by waging a cruel and apparently endless war. The western powers have added to the bloody mess in Afghanistan. Time to go home.
Soldier's diary shows the reality behind Gordon Brown's declaration of "success" in Afghanistan
At the end of July, Gordon Brown declared Operation Panther's Claw a success", despite the large loss of life and injuries suffered by British troops.
How many more strategies for winning the war in Afghanistan?
There have been at least 12 strategies for winning the war in Afghanistan. How many more before they realise the game is up?
And where exactly did the terrorists on our streets come from?
UK foreign secretary David Miliband insisted in a BBC interview on 21 August that British troops are in Afghanistan to keep the streets of Britain safe. "This is a security challenge of the highest order", he said.
Message to Obama and Brown: al-Qaeda is not in Afghanistan
Barack Obama takes every opportunity -- dutifully echoed by the ever servile Gordon Brown -- to link the war in Afghanistan to the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers and to say the reason the US and its allies are in Afghanistan is to defeat Al-Qaeda.
Why Afghans have no hope in this week's vote
Like millions of Afghans, I have no hope in the results of this week's election. In a country ruled by warlords, occupation forces, Taliban insurgency, drug money and guns, no one can expect a legitimate or fair vote, says Malalai Joya, Member of the Afghan Parliament.
Fake elections won’t bring peace to Afghanistan
This week’s presidential election in Afghanistan will be an elaborate piece of political theatre designed to show increasingly uneasy Western voters that progress is being made in the war-torn nation after nearly eight years of US-led occupation.
Not worth dying for in Afghanistan. Whatever it is.
Gordon Brown says that British soldiers are on a “vital mission” in Afghanistan. That mission would appear to be about dying for no good reason, leading some relatives of dead soldiers to accuse the government of “having blood on its hands”.
Is Obama a fake, as comfortable in his warmongering as George Bush before him?
John Pilger argues that Barack Obama is a fake, a corporate marketing creation. Where Obama's war policies are concerned, it's difficult to see a distinction with those of George Bush. Indeed, Obama has happily inherited many of the military and political personnel who were the instruments of Bush's warmongering.
How many more senseless deaths, Prime Minister?
How much longer can Gordon Brown try and justify this tragic waste of young lives with the ludicrous suggestion that these are "sacrifices" worth making in the interests of our "security"?
A "food for sex" law to buy votes: the true face of "democracy" in Afghanistan's election
Afghanistan has quietly passed a law permitting Shia men to deny their wives food and sustenance if they refuse to obey their husbands’ sexual demands.
Commit war crimes in Afghanistan and... remain a valued US ally
A little matter of massacring 2000 Tabiban prisoners of war has been no obstacle to the notorious Afghan warlord Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum being America's a valued ally throughout the last eight years of war and occupation and a member of Hamid Karzai's administration as Afghanistan's military chief of staff.
Why are we in Afghanistan? asks Dame Vera Lynn
"I don’t know what Afghanistan’s all about, I don’t know what we are doing there," says World War II "forces sweetheart Vera Lynn".
We’re losing in Afghanistan, says US army commander
We're losing and with US casualties rising sharply and the war costing America 4 billion dollars a month, we've got one year to get results before public support evaporates, says General Stanley McChrystal, commander of the US army in Afghanistan
A nagging, repetitive voice in my head: "It's not worth it"
A British army officer who has spoken against the Afghanistan war explains why he now thinks "it's not worth it".
What are two legs worth to the British army? £114,000, if you lost them in Afghanistan
At least 250 soldiers while on service in Afghanistan have suffered "life-changing" injuries, such as loss of limbs, loss of eyes or brain damage.
40 years of this: are they mad?
The worse it gets in, the more the politicians and generals say they are winning. The latest is General Sir David Richards, who is about to take over as chief of the British army. The war is "winnable", he says, but adds that the UK could be in Afghanistan for up to 40 years.
July 2009 in Afghanistan: The worst of all months
July 2009 was the worst month since the invasion in 2001 for deaths and injuries of both the Afghan people and the troops of the invading armies.
Support the first British soldier refusing to fight in Afghanistan
Lance Corporal Joe Glenton is the first British soldier to speak out publicly against the war in Afghanistan. He has written a letter to Gordon Brown explaining why he will not return to an unjustified war.
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British army changes rules to allow obese recruits to enlist
UK soldier to Gordon Brown: why I won't return to Afghanistan
Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, from the Royal Logistics Corps, is the first British soldier to speak out publicly against the war in Afghanistan.
Defeat looming for Tony Blair's Afghanistan jihad
Tony Blair's vainglorious jihad against the Pashtun insurgency is not succeeding, and British commanders, diplomats and politicians know it, says The Guardian's Simon Jenkins.
Gordon Brown proclaims "success" but 52% of the British public knows what failure looks like
The only question is how long it will take the American and British governments to admit the game is up. The longer that takes, the more lives of both Afghans and the invading armies will be lost in the name of "success".
The murder of an Afghan village
Photojournalist Guy Smallman, the only Western reporter to visit Granai village that was devastated by a US air attack, questions the conclusion of the investigation into the incident by the US military.
Cost to Britain of war in Afghanistan: £12 billion and rising fast
The soaring cost of Britain's military campaign in Afghanistan has passed £12bn. The "hidden costs" of fighting since the Taliban was ousted in 2001 reveals that the bill works out at £190 for every man, woman and child in the UK – and would pay for 23 new hospitals, 60,000 new teachers or 77,000 new nurses.
Ten reasons to get the troops out of Afghanistan
This so-called liberation of women is a big lie
The Afghan people want peace, and history teaches that we always reject occupation and foreign domination, says Malalai Joya, Afghan MP and campaigner for women's rights in Afghanistan.
Soldier commits suicide after seeing coffins of eight soldiers killed in Afghanistan
The family of a former soldier who killed himself just days after seeing the coffins of eight colleagues being laid to rest, blamed the Army for failing their son.
Afghan MP Malalai Joya calls for the anti-war movement to demonstrate against the war in Afghanistan
On Thursday 23 July, the Stop the War Coalition held one of its most electrifying rallies in its eight year history. The inspirational anti-war Afghan MP Malalai Joya was joined on the platform by Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, a serving British soldier who was speaking in public for the first time against the horror caused by the war in Afghanistan.
What "making progress" in Afghanistan looks like
Latest figures from the Ministry of Defence reveal that in July every British soldier in Afghanistan will have a one in 12 chance of being killed or injured.
A soldier killed in Afghanistan writes home from the grave
Rifleman Cyrus Thatcher was killed on 2 June 2009. Aged just 19, he was one of the youngest British soldiers to die in Afghanistan. He left a letter to be read by his mother, family and friends, in the event of him being killed.
It's not lack of equipment but lack of support for the war from the British public that is the issue.
The campaign for more equipment currently being waged in the media by the British military is an attempt to divert political opposition to the human cost of war into greater expenditure on war.
The deadliest month in Afghanistan. It's time to get out
Given the fact that a protracted guerrilla war will weaken the United States militarily and economically, the fundamental objective should be to get out of Afghanistan.
More helicopters won't stop British soldiers dying when they're occupying a country where they're not wanted.
There are just over 8000 British troops in Afghanistan, rising soon to 9000. The figures just released by the Ministry of Defence show that each of those troops has a high chance of getting killed or injured in Afghanistan. And these figures do not include July, the bloodiest month for the British army, with fifteen killed in the first two weeks.
But hey, what does public opinion count in a war for democracy?
From the way official Britain pontificates about the war in Afghanistan, you'd never know that most British people want troops withdrawn by the end of the year and only a minority have supported the US-led campaign for years, says The Guardian's Seumas Milne.
Is there a moral case for the war in Afghanistan?
John Rees from the Stop the War Coalition appeared on the BBC radio programme The Moral Maze and argued that the war in Afghanistan is both morally unjustified and unwinnable.
How many more will die in vain before we withdraw?
Seumas Milne, Guardian columnist speaking at a packed meeting on 13 July 2009, organised by Stop the War Coalition and Media Workers Against War, and titled The Good War? Afghanistan in the Media.
Time for politicians to tell the truth about this pointless war
It is time that the politicians of this country told the truth about this war, writes Stop the War's Lindsey German in The Mirror newspaper. It is not a "good" war to liberate the people of that country. It is a war now being fought to prop up one of the most corrupt governments in the world.
Dear Prime Minister
Stop the War Coalition writes to Gordon Brown
Afghanistan: The media goes from triumph to despair
What a difference two weeks makes. The media have swung from triumphalism to despair as British troops have died almost daily during Operation “Panther’s Claw” in Helmand.
If I cannot liberate myself, no one from outside can
In this powerful video from Rethink Afghanistan, Afghan women expose the myth that life for women has improved since the US invasion in 2001.
The Afghan war is nothing to do with democracy or justice or terrorism
These countries are wasting their money and blood in Afghanistan and I, on behalf on my people, pay my condolences to those people who lost their sons, their loves, their husbands in Afghanistan and have been killed, says Afghan MP Malalai Joya. They should raise their voices against the wrong policy of their governments.
Mourning Michael Jackson, ignoring the Afghan dead
Unless you are somehow without a TV, or possibly any modern means of communication, you'd have to make a desperate effort not to know that Michael Jackson (until recently excoriated by the media) had died. You'd have to make a similarly desperate effort to know that we've knocked off one wedding party after another these last years in Afghanistan.
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