14 March 2011 By Afghans for
Peace Careful
examination of numerous reports, and images/video
footage, along with eye-witness and victim
testimonies, clarify that Afghan civilians are the
main targets of deadly attacks by North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) and International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF). Although the Coalition forces
claim that previous civilian massacres were
accidental, Afghan-led peace movements believe that
the killings are at best negligent to at worst
intentional in nature. Foreign military
presence and intervention in the past ten years has
worsened the Afghanistan situation while civilian
casualties have increasingly created tension between
the Coaliton forces, the Afghan government, and the
people of Afghanistan. These events have further
brought into perspective the sheer human and material
damages of the war. No one should become accustomed to
or believe in this illogical method of bombing the
country to peace. This mentality is not justifiable
and should not be the norm. Acts of violence must
always be questioned. The people of Afghanistan want
justice and accountability. Not surprisingly, they get
the usual response from NATO - an initial denial of
civilian casualties, a shift of blame on insurgency,
occasional investigations with an admittance to a
tweaked number of civilian deaths, and rarely a
contrived apology. This has become a wanton pattern.
Explaining away repeated deadly civilian attacks as
"mistakes" is unacceptable. Furthermore, this proves
that the military solution to Afghanistan is not a
viable option. NATO-led forces
are equipped with the most advanced technology with
the capability of zooming in on even the smallest of
objects with precise vision. This begs the question as
to why so many civilians are dying. To put it into
perspective, below is a compiled short summary of
recent NATO attacks: It was reported
that a total of three civilian atrocities were
committed by the Coalition forces within the last two
weeks. The correct estimate is actually four. Alahsay district
of Kapisa province (5 civilians) Feb 17, 2011 Khoygani District
of Nangarhar province (6 civilians) Feb 20, 2011 Ghazi Abad
District of Kunar province (60+ civilians) Four Day
Operation February 17/18/19 (different reports) Mountains of
Nanglam in Kunar province (9 children/boys) March
1st, 2011 In Kapisa
province on Thursday February 17th, Alahsay district
Governor Mohammed Omari confirmed that five civilians
were killed by a air strke from the NATO-led ISAF. The
five civilians- three of them adult males and two
children ages 12 and 13 - were reportedly without meat
for the last few months and were desperate to hunt,
hence why they were carrying bird hunting equipment. In Nangarhar
province on February 20th, an entire family of six was
killed by a NATO air strike into their home in the
Khoygani district. A photo captured by Reuters shows
that the missile directly hit the roof of the family's
home. The parents and their four children were all
inside when the reportedly stray missile landed in
their residential community. The father was a soldier
for the Afghan National Army who died of excessive
bleeding after troops delayed his arrival to a
hospital. After a four day
operation by ISAF and NATO in Kunar province over 65
civilians. More than half of the casualties were women
and children, and this was confirmed by the governor
of the province. Contrary to the abundant evidence,
NATO claimed no civilians were killed and later
insisted that insurgents were among the deceased,
although villagers rejected this assertion. Two reports from
the Afghan investigation team: "As soon as
the villagers heard the shooting and planes roaring
overhead, they all struggled to take refuge in an old
trench that was used by the mujahedeen during jihad
[against the Russians]." "Those who
succeeded in reaching the trenches were killed when
the trench collapsed after it was hit by rockets or
bombs being fired from coalition helicopters,"
he said. "Those who were on
their way to the trench were killed by rockets or
bullets. I visited the trench. I saw old, dried blood.
I saw women and children's garments. I saw
blood-stained walls of the trench. I saw pieces of
blankets and cotton from the quilts the villagers
wrapped themselves in because of the cold weather." In an attempt to
hide the news story ISAF detained two Al Jazeera
journalists, Abdullah Nizami and Saeedullah Sahel.
They were detained during the investigation of the
Kunar massacre of over 65 civilians. Samer Alawi, the
Al Jazeera bureau chief in Kabul, strongly described
the detentions of Nizami and Seedullah as repressive
acts since it kept them from reporting. Another report
released this past month by Columbia Journalism
Review, has documented the difficulty of reporting
honest accounts of the Afghanistan war. On March 1st,
NATO helicopters killed 9 Afghan boys, and injured
one. This occurred without any warning signals as the
children were targeted "one after another". Aged seven
to nine years old, the boys were from poor families,
and were collecting firewood in the mountains. This is
once again an attack on the young children of Kunar.
How is it that NATO soldiers, again, confused children
for insurgents, and this time by gunfire? General David H.
Petraeus apologized for this killing, yet regarding
the previous attack in Kunar (that killed over 65
civilians), he erroneously accused the Afghan parents
of intentionally burning their children due to
cultural practices of discipline. Hamid Karzai's
spokesman Waheed Omar described the US Generals
comments as being "outrageous, insulting and racist."
Karzai, himself, has rejected the apology. Mohammed
Bismil, the brother of two of the boys killed, did
not care for Petraeus' apology but said, "The only
option I have is to pick up a Kalashnikov, RPG
[rocket-propelled grenade] or a suicide vest to
fight." The father of two
of the boys killed cried, "They don't value
humanity and don't care about our children." Waheed Mujda, an
Afghan political analyst stated that, "[for
international forces], Afghan people's blood is of no
value. For the Americans, apologising for a mistake is
a very big deal but for Afghans it is not. ISAF troop
actions that raise anger among Afghans are a major
reason for people joining the insurgents or Taliban." These are the
four war crimes committed by the Coalition forces in
the past two weeks. Victimization and the feeling of
betrayal continues to spread all across Afghanistan. While this
article initially started on the four recent attacks
by NATO, it is important to look at the previous
events as well. In doing so, we realize that these
are not isolated incidents or simply negligence but an
ongoing pattern of the failures of the "military
solution to Afghanistan". Apologies from
the Coalition, as rare as they are, mean little to
nothing to Afghans. Months earlier in 2010, after
initially choosing not to investigate, NATO forces
offered an apology for killing a fourteen year old
girl. Her father Mohammad Karim simply responded,
"Now, what should I do with 'sorry'?" Earlier in
Nangarhar, in May 2010, when NATO soldiers raided a
home shooting at least nine civilians
indiscriminately, a mourner said: "If the
Americans do this again, we are ready to shed our
blood fighting them. We would rather die than sit by
and do nothing. If there was anyone here trying to
destroy our country, we would capture them and hand
them over to the government. It is our land and our
duty to defend it against both foreigners and
insurgent infiltrators." He spoke further
on this by saying, "If the military keeps doing
this, the people will go into the mountains to fight
them. When I saw my daughter injured, all I could
think about was putting on a suicide jacket." Last month was
the one year anniversary of the killing of two
pregnant mothers, men and a teenage girl by a NATO
night raid. In an attempt to cover it up, the US
forces literally dug the bullets out of the victims
bodies. In a Democracy Now interview Glenn Greenwald
said, "Here you have an incident that we know
about only because of sheer luck with the
determination of a single reporter, and again the
military lying about what took place." A recent
report on survivors of night raids gives a close look
at how foreign troops justify killing civilians. One
witness of night raids, Anwar Ul Haq, said,
"Whenever they shoot or kill anybody, they call him al
Qaeda whether he is or not." Without regard
for civilians, the Tarok Kolache village in
Afghanistan's Arghandab River Valley was completely
destroyed with 25 tons of bombs. Is the destruction
of entire villages, which are the support system for
the majority of Afghans, a logical tactic in
counter-insurgency? Clearly, the Afghans who have
suffered due to this disagree. A farmer of the
Arghandab district asked "Why do you have to blow
up so many of our fields and homes?", while one
angry villager accused the military of ruining his
life after the demolition. In addition to
witness and victim testimonies, the Coalition forces
themselves have made eye-opening revelations on the
target killings of civilians. In September 2010, it
was revealed that a dozen US soldiers faced charges in
their involvement of not only killing innocent Afghan
civilians at random for sport, but also collecting the
victims finger bones, leg bones, teeth, and skulls as
trophies. The military refuses to release photos that
show US soldiers posing with naked, mutilated and
charred corpses of their victims. Sound familiar? The
father of one of the victims killed was quoted as
saying, "The Americans really love to kill
innocent people." In fact, they had planned on
killing more civilians had it not been for one
soldier, Spc. Adam Winfield, and his father who tried
relentlessly to blow the whistle. He had said his
squad leader "gives high-fives to the guy who
kills innocent people and plans more with him.- I have
proof that they are planning another one in the form
of an AK-47 (machine gun) they want to drop on another
guy." Instead of honoring Winfield for exposing
the truth, he was instead charged with the same
crimes. His father had reported Winfeld's statements
to Army officials, but they turned a blind eye. One
can't help but to wonder whether the killing of
civilians for sport is more abhorrent or the apparent
negligence and silence by the higher ups in the Armed
forces. Speaking of
higher ups in the Armed forces, General Mattis, who
replaced Petreaus as chief of US Central Command, said"Its
fun to kill people…it's a hell of a lot of fun to
shoot [Afghans]." He continued: "Actually,
it's a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a
hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right
upfront with you, I like brawling." A bit later
he spoke of the "emotional satisfaction you may
get from really whacking somebody."‘ He
reportedly even told his troops to "have a plan to
kill everybody you meet." Afghans have been
resisting this dehumanizing way of life where they are
regarded as savages or merely objects to be killed for
sport. A recent poll conducted in Afghanistan shows
that more than half of the Afghans interviewed
believed NATO-led forces should begin withdrawing from
the country in mid-2011 or sooner. Afghans no longer
want anything from NATO but to simply leave. Massive
protests and demonstrations against the Coalition
following recent attacks are now erupting throughout
Afghanistan in cities like Kunar, Kabul city and
Nanglam, where Afghan demonstrators have been marching
in streets chanting, "death to the invaders"
and "We don't want the invading forces."
Another man explained, "We say to ISAF that
revenge is part of our culture. We say to our leaders,
our government, that this kind of violence should be
investigated. Those responsible should be punished."
A woman held a placard that read, "Occupation =
Killing + Destruction." In one demonstration,
angry protesters burned a pile of blankets, clothing,
and other items donated by Coaltion troops. An
independent member in the legislature, Ramazan
Bashardost, said "These killings must be stopped
or the people will rise against foreigners and we will
stand by them." Civilians fear
not only NATO and ISAF but also suicide bombings by
Armed Opposition Groups. Simultaneously with the
terror by Coalition forces, recent suicide blasts have
taken the lives of around 100 Afghan civilians. The almost decade
long war and occupation has done more harm than good,
escalating violence in Afghanistan to its peak, and
continues to deteriorate chances of peace for the
future. Afghanistan has already been subjected to
previous decades of war and now each new generation is
haunted with both the memory and reality of endless
bloodshed, death, and misery. The fact remains that
Afghans continue to live with hunger and worsening
poverty, torture and humiliation, planted with
weapons, escalating air strikes and night raids. The
responsibility lies on the Afghan government, Taliban,
warlords, and especially NATO/ISAF forces, including
top commanders like General Petreaus, who must be
brought by the people of Afghanistan and the world
through a judicial process to account for their
crimes, failed military solutions, and indiscriminate
killings. Instead, the corrupt system in power
continues to leave Afghans helpless and without a
voice, and has them convinced that they are incapable
of self-determination. However, it must not be
forgotten that Afghanistan has a long history of
independence and are more than capable of running
their affairs. It is vitally important to listen to
Afghans. It is the right of the people to decide the
fate of their country and there are no exceptions.
With the recent revolts in Arab countries, it's only a
matter of time before Afghans follow their lead. This
requires immediate change and an honest vision for a
truly democratic Afghanistan. In doing so, we must be
aware of the ground realities, namely the presence of
NATO, Taliban, warlords as well as regional
intervention. Global Afghan-led
peace groups such as Afghans for Peace (AFP), Afghan
Youth Peace Volunteers (AYPV), and the Afghan Canadian
Student Association (ACSA) stand in solidarity with
the people of Afghanistan in their struggle for
justice and freedom. They fully acknowledge and
strongly condemn these cruel, targeted massacres of
innocent human life. AFP, AYPV and ACSA calls on the
people of the world, especially Afghans, to rightfully
demand an end to this illegal war and occupation. When
children are being killed one by one, as was the case
in Kunar last week, all of humanity suffers. When
civilians have become the targets, it is time for
everyone to stand up. Signed by: Afghans for
Peace Afghan Youth
Peace Volunteers Afghan
Canadian Student Association Afghans for
Peace (AFP) is an alliance of Afghans from various
ethnic, religious, socio-economic, cultural, and
political backgrounds with a united vision for a
democratic, all inclusive, just and peaceful
Afghanistan. AFP consists of students, professionals,
community leaders, and socio-politically aware
activists. The Global Day
of Listening about the wish to "live without wars",
March 19-20, will be a time for Afghans, Iraqis,
Egyptians, Americans, Canadians, and people from every
continent to hear what it is like to live in the
middle of wars. A global
protest against the war in Afghanistan will be held
this April 9th and 10th 2011. Contact your local
anti-war group for more information. Comments 💬 التعليقات |