Afghanistan Withdrawal Roundup

afghanistan

As the situation in Afghanistan evolves following the U.S. troop withdrawal, Win Without War will be providing regular updates on key developments, useful commentary, our analysis, and more.

For more from us, see our latest statements here and here. And read our talking points here.
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Thursday September 9, 2021

News You Need:

Commentary & Analysis:

Our Take:

  • From calls for confrontation with China, to legislation that would increase the already bloated Pentagon budget — it is astonishing to see some treat the withdrawal from Afghanistan as reason to increase militarization elsewhere. It should be exactly the opposite. An honest reckoning with the last 20 years would yield an inescapable conclusion: war was never the answer.
  • Though the news cycle has started to move on, we must not look away: the people in Afghanistan remain in need, and our obligation remains as strong as ever. Humanitarian aid, refugee resettlement, multilateral diplomatic coordination to evacuate those fleeing the country — we must make every effort to ensure the safety of the Afghan people.
  • As we approach the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, we join the world in mourning all who lost their lives on that tragic day. We also mourn the victims of what came next: two decades of disastrous wars that only added to the scale of the tragedy. We must use this anniversary as an occasion to reflect, and learn from our mistakes.

Talk of the Town:

Tuesday September 7, 2021

News You Need:

Commentary & Analysis:

Our Take:

  • The people of Afghanistan have already suffered too much. With the economy, healthcare system, and basic public services on the verge of collapse, blocking the flow of aid would deepen the ongoing humanitarian crisis. We must not make the people suffer for the crimes of their government.
  • Tens of thousands of Afghan civilians killed, millions displaced, and trillions of dollars spent on warmaking; as we reckon with the fallout of the evacuation, we must keep in mind that the costs of the war in Afghanistan have been accruing for decades.
  • The women of Afghanistan do not exist to be justifications for war or proxies for policy debates. They are human beings, many of whom are fighting tirelessly for peace, rights, and liberation, and many simply struggling to get by in unimaginable circumstances.

Talk of the Town:

Friday September 3, 2021

News You Need:

Commentary & Analysis:

Our Take:

  • When the cameras turn away, our obligations to the Afghan people continue. As time goes by, and the news cycle changes, we must keep up the fight to ensure safe refuge and resettlement for all Afghans in need, and humanitarian aid and peace-first solutions for those who stay behind.
  • With U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, it’s time to reckon with the last 20 years of war. For true accountability, investigations must not be limited to the final few days — they must cover the entire scope of the disastrous twenty-year war.
  • This week, the House Armed Services Committee voted to increase the Pentagon budget by $37 billion. It’s a shameful sign that many are still refusing to learn the lesson of Afghanistan: the war-first approach to U.S. foreign policy has failed. We must chart a new course.

Talk of the Town:

Wednesday September 1, 2021

News You Need:

Commentary & Analysis:

Our Take:

  • After twenty long, destructive, years, we welcome the final withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. But our work doesn’t end here. The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is as urgent as ever, and we have a profound moral obligation to help. (Read our statement on the completion of the U.S. military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan here.)
  • The people of Afghanistan are in need of aid, safety, and peace. We must use the tools of diplomacy to ensure safe passage for at-risk Afghans, open our doors to, and provide support for, any who need refuge, and work multilaterally to provide aid and peacebuilding assistance to those left behind.
  • The lesson of the last twenty years is clear: we can’t bomb our way to peace. That doesn’t just apply to ground force occupations, but also covert operations, private contracting, and drone warfare. To learn our lesson from the tragedy in Afghanistan, we must reject false military solutions altogether.

Talk of the Town:

Monday August 30, 2021

News You Need:

Commentary & Analysis:

Our Take:

  • We cannot speak of accountability for the costs of the withdrawal without speaking about the decades of war and occupation that brought us here. Let us be clear: any proper reckoning with the U.S. war in Afghanistan must start from the beginning.
  • The reported death of 10 Afghan civilians following a U.S. defensive strike against a suspected suicide bomber is a tragic reminder of the price civilians have paid throughout the last twenty years of war. While pundits continue to focus on the lack of U.S. military casualties in the months before last week’s airport attack, we must remember that thousands of Afghan civilians were killed during that same time period.
  • The new, multilateral agreement for continued evacuation after the August 31 withdrawal deadline is a great step forward in our obligations to the Afghan people. Now, we must see it through, and ensure safe passage and resettlement to every last Afghan in need, as well as long term humanitarian and peacebuilding support for those left behind.

Talk of the Town:

 

Friday August 27, 2021

News You Need:

Commentary & Analysis:

Our Take:

  • Read our full statement in response to yesterday’s attacks here.
  • Yesterday’s attacks were an incalculable loss. We join the world in mourning not only its victims, but the victims of the decades of devastating warfare that preceded it. This is the profound human cost of war.
  • In the wake of yesterday’s violence — as we are reminded of the severity of the threat to both U.S. military personnel and Afghan lives — we must redouble our efforts to help evacuate and support the Afghan people. We urge the administration to work multilaterally to continue evacuations, provide safe harbor to those seeking refuge, and ensure humanitarian and peacebuilding support to those who cannot leave.
  • To respond to these attacks with more militarism would be to ignore the lesson of the last twenty years of endless war. Rather than more bombs and violence, our government, led by Congress, must critically assess U.S. failures over the last 20 years that led us here.

Talk of the Town:

 

Thursday August 26, 2021

News You Need:

Commentary & Analysis:

Our Take:

  • There are reports this morning of a suicide attack outside of Kabul airport. Details are still emerging, though casualties are feared. While U.S. officials have been warning about this possibility for several days, this attack underscores the need for U.S. forces to do everything possible to move evacuees safely into the airport as quickly as possible.
  • This morning the White House announced another 13,400 people were evacuated yesterday, bringing the total to 95,700 since August 14. Despite these impressive evacuation numbers, today’s attack outside the airport gate raises grave concerns about recent reports of SIVs and other Afghans being turned away from the Kabul airport gates. With only days left for evacuations, there’s no time for bureaucratic hurdles. We must use every legal tool available to evacuate any Afghan in danger.
  • It is outrageous that some in Congress are trying to divert the $6 billion intended for Afghan security forces to wage more endless war. Every last dollar must go toward saving Afghan lives, not doubling down on the war-first approach that brought us here in the first place.

Talk of the Town:

Wednesday August 25, 2021

News You Need:

Commentary & Analysis:

Our Take:

  • It is absolutely shameful that at-risk Afghans are being turned away from the gates of Kabul airport. Our demand is simple: let them in.
  • Thousands of Afghan lives are in danger. This is no time for red tape. The President should immediately establish complete humanitarian parole for any Afghan in need of refuge. We must not let bureaucracy get in the way of saving lives in a moment of crisis.
  • As the UK government and others call for sanctions against the Taliban, let’s remember that broad-based sanctions are a failed tool of foreign policy. Not only do they cause untold suffering for everyday people, they also rally support for, and ultimately empower, the very regimes they purport to punish. Their use should be off the table.

Talk of the Town:

  • Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN): “Afghan refugees deserve to know the love and care I received from the US is still here, that most of us will keep fighting for them to get here safely and will work to create an environment where they can thrive.”
  • Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI): “Maybe if you got all the wars wrong you are not an expert for a TV show but just a person who keeps getting foreign policy wrong.”
  • Afghan-American Coalition: “We stand by @ShaharzadAkbar letter and call on the @UN_HRC to move beyond statements and take immediate action. The threat to Afghan lives needs to be taken seriously and we demand better. #StandWithAfghanistan #UNHRC” [thread]

 

Tuesday August 24, 2021

News You Need:

Commentary & Analysis:

Our Take:

  • The president must do whatever he can to provide safe passage and refuge for every Afghan in need. If this requires a short extension of U.S. and other international troops’ presence in Kabul, it should be done following diplomatic efforts to secure assurances of the safety of those seeking refuge and our service members.
  • The U.S. government finally seems to have the infrastructure in place to scale up evacuations. The United States and its allies have evacuated more than twenty thousand people from Kabul in the last 24 hours alone. We must build on this progress and push to save as many lives as possible.
  • The crisis faced by the people of Afghanistan will not end with the withdrawal of U.S. forces. And neither does our obligation to them. With the country on the verge of economic collapse, we need to be working with our allies and the UN to reject punitive policies that would harm everyday people, and to ensure critical humanitarian access and assistance.

Talk of the Town:

  • Azmat Khan: “They may not be on your TV screens right now, but there’s a generation of Afghan youth in rural areas whose lives over the last 20 years were forever changed by the war playing out directly in front of them—when the American public was not watching as they are now.” [thread]
  • Pam Campos-Palma: “The Biden admin has all the tools & a lot of really smart public workers in his administration who care deeply about living our values & meeting the moment with integrity & courage. Now is the time to use our powers for good as we divest from violence & invest in LIFE”
  • Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA): “Many of the most critical voices you’re hearing right now are the same people who got us into war & who think we should stay forever. Some are bought and paid for by the defense industry. So let me say unequivocally: President Biden made the right decision to withdraw our troops.”
  • Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA): “We cannot turn away our Afghan allies who helped us over the last twenty years. I’m working to raise the refugee cap, provide any and all support and investment in humanitarian relief, and ensure the safe resettlement of the Afghan people.”

 

Monday August 23, 2021

News You Need:

Commentary & Analysis:

Our Take:

  • Over 37,000 people have been successfully evacuated from Afghanistan since August 14. As this operation scales, we must remove any red tape to help any Afghan seeking refuge that we can.
  • Thousands of our Afghan allies fleeing Afghanistan right now could have already been relocated to the United States or third countries, but Donald Trump and Stephen Miller intentionally undermined any discussions of refugee and resettlement plans, including the SIV program, to advance the far right’s heinous, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant agenda.
  • The imbalance between critical media coverage of the end of this war and critical coverage of the war itself has been striking. It is incumbent on our press to question government policy. But carrying water for endless war and the arms industry is not holding power to account.

Talk of the Town:

  • Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA): “The two-decade war in Afghanistan cost hundreds of thousands of lives and over $2.2 trillion. What if we had invested that money in our communities instead? In education, housing, child care, and more? It’s time for us to reevaluate our priorities. No more blank checks for war.”
  • Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ): “As the President reiterated today, it is now imperative we evacuate every US citizen, ally and Afghan refugee threatened by the Taliban. We have a moral imperative to help those who helped us in Afghanistan and I will do everything in my power to support these evacuations.” [thread]
  • Murtaza Hussain: “I wrote something about the looming prospect of aid cuts and sanctions on Afghanistan. Around 80% of the healthcare system alone is funded by foreign aid and its not exaggeration to say millions could die if a deal isn’t worked out”

 

Friday August 20, 2021

News You Need:

Commentary & Analysis:

Our Take:

  • Our profound moral obligation to the people of Afghanistan and its diaspora requires us to follow their leadership, and act swiftly to meet their demands to save as many lives as possible.
  • Our debt is not limited to those fleeing the country. Following decades of war, a deadly economic crisis now looms for those who stay. We must act quickly through the UN and with our allies to meaningfully engage to ensure humanitarian access to those who need it most, rather than taking punitive actions that could precipitate this crisis and punish the very people to whom we owe the most.
  • Instrumentalizing human rights to justify decades of war and policies that enriched the elite at the expense of thousands of Afghan lives obscures the true reasons for, and costs of, the U.S. occupation. The tragic events taking place in Afghanistan today are an inseparable part of the decades of violence and occupation that preceded them.

Talk of the Town:

  • Ezzatullah Mehrdad: “20 years of U.S. invasion has come down to jets flying over Kabul. It gives the city a taste of 20 years of war in rural areas: constant airstrikes and jets flying over civilians, day and night, depriving people of their nights of sleep, and harassing people in their own homes.”
  • Afghans For a Better Tomorrow. “The United States’ moral obligations do not end with its exit from the military theater in Afghanistan. Millions of Afghan lives are at stake. The Biden administration must act now! Read our coalition letter:”
  • Pashtana Zalmai Khan Durrani: “The world watched as fierce women of Afghanistan were made a mere commodity. Shame on all of those who made it happen.”

 

Thursday August 19, 2021

News You Need:

Commentary & Analysis:

Our Take:

  • 20 years of occupation, trillions of dollars spent, millions of lives uprooted. The United States and its NATO allies owe it to the people of Afghanistan to provide safety and refuge for every last person in need. No less.
  • We must center Afghan voices and those most impacted in our foreign policy toward Afghanistan. Let’s listen to the people who bear the burden of our decisions in Afghanistan, not those who chose to invade and the arms dealers who profited.
  • The brave women of Afghanistan are already out in the streets protesting the Taliban, and organizing their communities to stay safe and resist renewed hardship in these unimaginable circumstances. Rather than using their oppression as justification for war, it’s time we center their empowerment in our approach to Afghanistan.

Talk of the Town:

  • Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI): “There’s no time to waste. The US—and the rest of the international coalition—must provide shelter to *all* fleeing the Taliban. To do anything less, including arbitrarily capping how many we’ll accept, would be an abject moral failure.”
  • Emily Manna: “One reason for this “disconnect” is the government’s descent into secrecy around the war in Afghanistan over the past several years, as DoD sought to prevent unfavorable info from reaching the public.” [thread]
  • Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA): “There are many important perspectives worth hearing on Afghanistan. Bad faith attacks from those who want the war to go on forever, who flipflopped after cheering Trump’s deal with the Taliban and troop pullout, or who voted against helping our Afghan allies are not among them.”

 

Wednesday August 18, 2021

News You Need:

Commentary & Analysis:

Our Take:

  • Veteran, diplomatic, and humanitarian communities are doing heroic work to try to help get Afghan partners seeking refuge to safety. Our focus remains clear: keeping the airport open and evacuating as many Afghans as are seeking refuge – regardless of their affiliation with the U.S. government.
  • We owe the Afghan people a great debt for our role in this conflict and their suffering and we should not let quotas dictate how many Afghans we welcome.
  • The United States must increase its humanitarian assistance and support to local Afghan and international NGOs still operating in Afghanistan, and resist punitive measures, like broad-based sanctions and freezing assets, that could create even more harm to everyday Afghans.

Talk of the Town:

  • Mena Ayazi: “Taliban rule is the new reality for the Afghan people. At this time, the most productive thing the international community can do is protect human rights defenders…“
  • Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY): “It’s too generous to say we “wasted” $2.26 trillion on the wars in Afghanistan…”
  • Afghans for a Better Tomorrow: “Thank you @SenSanders @CoriBush @RepAOC for your leadership and standing up for Afghans…”

 

Tuesday August 17, 2021

News You Need:

Commentary & Analysis:

Our Take:

  • Right now, our all-consuming focus must be saving as many Afghan lives as possible. That means rejecting the white supremacist politics of the Trump faction and opening our doors, without red tape, reservations, or hesitation, to all who need refuge.
  • Our understanding of the events in Afghanistan is defined by whose voices we choose to listen to. Will we look for lessons from the very people most responsible for our failures — the Petraeuses, Princes, and Boltons — or from those who feel its consequences most — the people of Afghanistan and its diaspora?

Talk of the Town:

  • Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA): “What’s happening in Afghanistan currently is a humanitarian crisis. Let’s be clear: there has never been, and will never be, a U.S. military solution in Afghanistan…“
  • Saad Mohseni: “Our brave female journalists out and about in Kabul this morning…”
  • Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN): “There will be plenty of time for confronting the repeated failures of Afghanistan policy over the course of 4 presidencies. The urgency of the moment now…”