“US Policy Toward Afghanistan Was a Recipe for Collapse From the Start” by Stephen Zunes

Over the last few days, the world watched in horror as the NATO-backed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan government collapsed amidst a hasty evacuation of the last US personnel from Kabul. Stephen Zunes’ recent piece in Truthout provides an excellent summary and analysis of the United States’ repeated failures in Afghanistan in the last 20 years, and how those failures compounded to create the present tragedy. Like many others around the world, we in the Voluntown Peace Trust community have opposed the War in Afghanistan on moral and strategic grounds from the start, and we have never been shy to express our stance on the matter. As the Taliban finish their consolidation of power over Afghanistan, and as long as authoritarians of all stripes and creeds oppress peoples in the world, we will continue to do our work raising awareness, appealing to conscience, and speaking truth to power. 

We at VPT have been in touch with Afghani war resisters for several years. If you are one of them, we would love to hear your thoughts, and we encourage you to leave a comment.

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‘We must not allow the tragedy unfolding in Afghanistan to be used to rewrite history and teach the wrong lessons… 

We must not erase the U.S.’s longtime role in the creation of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan: The current chaos and violence have been nearly 20 years in the making. Indeed, Biden actually delayed the withdrawal for several months beyond Trump’s May deadline, making claims by the former president and his supporters that Biden had suddenly decided to “surrender” to the Taliban particularly absurd…’

Read the rest of Stephen Zunes’ article here: https://truthout.org/articles/us-policy-toward-afghanistan-was-a-recipe-for-collapse-from-the-start/ 

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Take Action

If you are concerned about the events unfolding in Afghanistan, there are a few things you can do. First, educate yourself on the recent history of Afghanistan and the US-Afghanistan relationship. Especially seek out Afghani voices. Then, urge Congress to support refugee evacuations from Afghanistan, as they did after the US departure from Vietnam. As the situation continues to develop, we will share more information about groups to support. 

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