Organizing Meeting for Oct. 6-7 Protests on 10th Anniversary of Afghanistan War

A gruesome war grows ever more gruesome. October 7 will mark the 10th anniversary of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, and contrary to Washington’s claims of “improved security” and “drawdown” the terrible toll just keeps rising.

In the first six months of the year, Afghan civilian casualties were up 15% from the same period in 2010. Tens of thousands of Afghan people have been killed, and hundreds of thousands wounded and displaced.

U.S. combat deaths in the war reached a record this month. An article in the March 4 Washington Post reported that U.S. military doctors now call double-leg amputations with accompanying genital injuries the “signature wound” of the Afghanistan war.

At a time when health, education and other vital government programs are being slashed or eliminated altogether, the war in Afghanistan devours $330 million per day—every day! And that is only about 10% of the real military budget. A recent study estimated that the total cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will total an unimaginable $4.4 trillion—$4,400,000,000,000.

If there is one thing that is clear it is this: Neither Democratic nor Republican politicians will stop the bloody carnage and immense waste of resources unless they are compelled to by the people. That’s what makes the upcoming actions on October 6-7, marking the exact 10th anniversary of the Afghanistan war, so important. On those days, a wide range of marches, rallies, direct action and other forms of protest will take place from Washington DC to San Francisco, as well as in many other cities in the U.S. and around the world. Many organizations and individual activists will be marching to say: End the wars & occupations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and everywhere! Money for jobs, healthcare and schools, not the war machine!

Join us on Thursday, Sept. 8, 6:30pm for a meeting to plan for the October 6-7 actions here in San Francisco. The meeting will take place at the ANSWER Coalition office, 2969 Mission St., between 25th and 26th Sts., San Francisco.

The only way to end the bloody and rising carnage in Afghanistan is to immediately withdraw all U.S. and NATO troops and aircraft. Only the people can stop the war—join us!