[Peace-discuss] Obama magnifies the crime

[C. G. Estabrook]

   A troop surge can only magnify 
   the crime against Afghanistan
   by Malalai Joya

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/nov/30/obama-afghanistan-troops>http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/nov/30/obama-afghanistan-troops

After months of waiting, President Obama is about to announce the new US
strategy for Afghanistan. His speech may be long awaited, but few are
expecting any surprise: it seems clear he will
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/24/barack-obama-us-troops-afghanistan>herald
a major escalation of the war. In doing so he will be making something
worse than a mistake. It is a continuation of a war crime against the
suffering people of my country.

I have said before that
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/25/afghanistan-occupation-taliban-warlords>by
installing warlords and drug traffickers in power in Kabul, the US and Nato
have pushed us from the frying pan to the fire. Now Obama is pouring fuel
on these flames, and this week's announcement of upwards of 30,000 more
troops to Afghanistan will have tragic consequences.

Already this year we have seen the impact of an increase in troops
occupying Afghanistan: more violence, and more civilian deaths. My people,
the poor of Afghanistan who have known only war and the domination of
fundamentalism, are today squashed between two enemies: the US/Nato
occupation forces on one hand and warlords and the Taliban on the other.
While we want the withdrawal of one enemy, we don't believe it is a matter
of choosing between two evils. There is an alternative: the
democratic-minded parties and intellectuals are our hope for the future of
Afghanistan.

It will not be easy, but if we have a little bit of peace we will be better
able to fight our own internal enemies – Afghans know what to do with our
destiny. We are not a backward people, and we are capable of fighting for
democracy, human and women's rights in Afghanistan. In fact the only way
these values will be achieved is if we struggle for them and win them
ourselves.
After eight years of war, the situation is as bad as ever for ordinary
Afghans, and women in particular. The reality is that only the drug
traffickers and warlords have been helped under this corrupt and
illegitimate Karzai government. Karzai's promises of reform are laughable.
His own vice-president is the notorious warlord Fahim, whom Brad Adams of
Human Rights Watch describes as
"<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/04/afghanistan-president-hamid-karzai-election>one
of the most notorious warlords in the country, with the blood of many
Afghans on his hands".

Transparency International reports that this regime is the
<http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2009/cpi_2009_table>second
most corrupt in the world. The UN Development Programme reports Afghanistan
is second last –
<http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2009_EN_Summary.pdf>181st out of 182
countries – in terms of human development. That is why we no longer want
this kind of "help" from the west.

Like many around the world, I am wondering what kind of
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/09/barack-obama-nobel-peace-prize1>"peace"
prize can be awarded to a leader who continues the occupations of Iraq and
Afghanistan, and starts
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/mar/18/obama-pakistan-drones>a
new war in Pakistan, all while supporting Israel?

Throughout my recent tour of the US, I had the chance to meet many military
families and veterans who are working to put an end to the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. They understand that it is not a case of a "bad war" and a
"good war" – there is no difference, war is war.

Members of <http://www.ivaw.org/>Iraq Veterans Against War even accompanied
me to meet members of Congress in Washington DC. Together we tried to
explain the terrible human cost of this war, in terms of Afghan, US and
Nato lives. Unfortunately, only a few representatives really offered their
support to our struggle for peace.

While the government was not responsive, the people of the US did offer me
their support. And polls confirm that the US public wants peace,
<http://www.pollster.com/blogs/us_afghanistan_cnn_1030111.php>not an
escalated war. Many also want Obama to hold Bush and his administration to
account for war crimes. Everywhere I spoke, people responded strongly when
I said that if Obama really wanted peace he would first of all try to
prosecute Bush and have him tried before the international criminal court.
Replacing Bush's man in the Pentagon, Robert Gates, would have been a good
start –
<http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/11/obama_keeps_robert_gates_on_at_pentagon_gratifying_conservative_bloggers.html>but
Obama chose not to.

Unfortunately, the UK government shamefully follows the path of the US in
Afghanistan. Even though opinion polls show that
<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/war-in-afghanistan-not-in-our-name-1820949.html>more
than 70% of the population is against the war,
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/30/britain-500-troops-afghanistan>Gordon
Brown has announced the deployment of more UK troops. It is sad that more
taxpayers' money will be wasted on this war, while Britain's poor continue
to suffer from a lack of basic services.
The UK government has also tried to silence dissent, for instance by
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/aug/03/british-army-alleged-deserter-court>arresting
Joe Glenton, a British soldier who has refused to return to Afghanistan. I
had a chance to meet Glenton when I was in London last summer, and together
we spoke out against the war. My message to him is that, in times of great
injustice, it is sometimes better to go to jail than be part of committing
war crimes.

Facing a difficult choice, Glenton made a courageous decision, while Obama
and Brown have chosen to follow the Bush administration. Instead of hope
and change, in foreign policy Obama is delivering more of the same. But I
still have hope because, as our history teaches, the people of Afghanistan
will never accept occupation.

Malalai Joya was the youngest woman elected to the Afghan Parliament in
2005. She recently completed a North American book tour in support of her
new political memoir, published in the UK as Raising My Voice: The
Extraordinary Story of the Afghan Woman Who Dares to Speak Out (Rider, 2009).