Spread Some Love With The Afghan Tree Project 2014

Two weeks left of the very successful fundraising campaign for the 2014 Afghan Tree Project. Among other things, this year funds will be used to start new nurseries in Kabul that will employ Afghan widows. Food, shade and jobs for women -- what's not to love?

I was honored to help the campaign by tweeting out photos and news of their mad success over the past six years (follow them @AfghanTrees).

Tens of thousands of tree saplings have been started, nurtured and shared with hungry families. You can see more photos on (and like) the facebook page for the Afghan Tree Project.

Be part of Afghanistan's revitalization by donating to the Afghan Tree Project 2014 on indiegogo today!

Visit the Afghanistan Samsortya website to learn more about this wonderful organization. Samsortya means "revitalization" in Pashto.

Plant Trees, Not Bombs, In #Afghanistan

 

An airstrike kills a few more hungry Afghans, out bird hunting with rifles. Yawn, responds the American public.

Elsewhere an orchard is planted and nurtured in the belief that Afghan children will survive to eat its fruit. If you share this optimism, you can plant some trees, too.

There are twice as many troops in Afghanistan now than there were when the Obama administration came into office. Yet every time I'm in a liberal enclave like Brunswick, Maine or Cambridge, Mass. I see lots of cars with messages for peace and Obama campaign bumperstickers side by side. (You could read Chris Hedges here on how very dangerous this willful ignorance on the part of liberals could turn out to be.)

Much will be made of the fact that at the 13 year mark, Afghanistan is the longest running war ever for the U.S., with no end in sight. Those with a sense of history may remember that the U.S. funded proxies in the Soviet-Afghan war, helping to create the very Taliban forces that are far from vanquished in 2013. Perhaps because the U.S. military regularly pays them to keep the supply routes open to truck in the fuel needed to occupy Afghanistan and to continue to battle -- the Taliban.

Are women and girls better off for having NATO forces swarming around battling warlords for more than a decade? This is the grandiose claim of liberals who still claim Afghanistan is a "good" war. Most informed sources say: no. In news this week:

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission office in the southeastern zone on Monday said incidents of violence against women had increased in Paktia, Paktika and Khost...Shamim blamed the increasing violence against women on insecurity, social norms and delay in investigation of their cases by the judiciary.

"Imperialism and fundamentalism have joined hands," observed ousted legislator Malalai Joya in an interview for Democracy Now!  She has survived seven assassination attempts thus far, and continues to travel and speak out about conditions of life under the NATO-sponsored regime of Hamid Karzai. 

"...consequences of the 12 years of occupation of U.S. and NATO, unfortunately, was more bloodshed, crimes, women rights, human rights violations, looting of our resource and changing of our country into mafia state, as during these 12 bloody years tens of thousands of innocent civilians have been killed by occupation forces and terrorist groups. And they have changed Afghanistan to the center of the drugs. That’s more than 90 percent of opium produced from Afghanistan, as I believe opium is even more dangerous than al-Qaeda and war as it destroy and spoils the life of Afghans. Around two million Afghan addicted, most of them are women and children. And also, there’s a report Afghanistan is the second most corrupt country in the world. And according to UNIFEM, Afghanistan is the worst place to be a woman."

An Afghan woman holds up a poster during a protest in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, April 14, 2012. A group of Afghan women protested against domestic violence. The poster reads: “Where is justice?” Photo by Musadeq Sadeq. Afghan Women's Writing Project.

You can read the testimony of less famous Afghan women and girls at the Afghan Women's Writing Project, to get the true flavor of their experience under military occupation that empowers the most brutal among them. 

The US government has been shut down for seven days as of right now, but the war for control of  Afghanistan has not skipped a beat.

#Afghanistan Is The Worst Place To Be A Woman -- Malalai Joya

Re-posting this interview by journalist Elsa Rassbach, published in Common Dreams and Stop The War websites. Although the focus is not on the conditions of Afghan women and their so-called "progress" under NATO occupation, she does speak to this topic saying, among other things, " In most places killing a woman is still as easy as killing a bird." Also quite good on the NGO lords of Kabul.

01.10.13 - 4:32 PM

'The Afghan People Are Fed Up': An Interview with Malalai Joya

Malalai Joya, 34, first gained international attention in 2003 when she spoke out publicly against the domination of warlords. She was at that time serving as an elected delegate to the Loya Jirga that was convened to ratify the Constitution of Afghanistan; in 2005 she became one of 68 women elected to the 249-seat National Assembly, or Wolesi Jirga, and was the youngest member of the Afghan parliament.Malalai Joya visits a girls school in Farah province in Afghanistan in 2007. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

In 2007 she again spoke out against former warlords and war criminals in the Afghan parliament and was thereupon suspended from the parliament. Since then she has survived many assassination attempts. She travels in Afghanistan with armed guards and has worked tirelessly on behalf of Afghan women and to end the occupation of her country.

She has received broad international recognition. In 2010, Time Magazine placed Malalai Joya on their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and Foreign Policy Magazine in listed her in its annual list of the Top 100 Global Thinkers.  In March, 2011, The Guardian listed her among "Top 100 women: activists and campaigners." Her most recent book is "Raising My Voice."

I first met Malalai in 2007 in Berlin, after she was invited to speak in the German Parliament (see http://www.zcommunications.org/the-war-on-terror-is-a-mockery-by-elsa-rassbach), and we've met again during some of her further visits to Europe. This interview is based on our conversation during her most recent visit to Berlin and subsequent email correspondence between us.

The above text and following interview is by Elsa Rassbach, a US journalist and filmmaker based in Berlin, Germany.

__________________

RASSBACH:  Last month in Paris representatives of the Taliban for the first time met with their former enemies of the Northern Alliance, the collection of militias that fought them in the 1990s and eventually helped the U.S. to oust the Taliban regime.  Now President Obama has invited Afghan President Hamid Karzai to meet with him in Washington on January 11th.

What do you make of this?

JOYA: To make the current puppet regime in Kabul more powerful, the U.S. and NATO have been trying to bring together three groups that emerged during three criminal periods of war in Afghanistan: the warlords, the Taliban, and some of those who served the hated Russian occupation. 

Both the Taliban and the Northern Alliance warlords are long-time allies of the West. These groups are criminal, dark-minded, and reactionary to the core. In their lust for power, they are ready to sacrifice national interests of Afghanistan to any foreign power.

The Taliban and the Northern Alliance warlords are responsible for much of the suffering of the Afghan people.  They are like a wolf and a vulture and can never be regarded part of a “solution” to Afghanistan’s tragedy. Our people want them prosecuted as traitors and war criminals. But the West wants to “unite” them and impose them on our nation. Joining this dirty mafia regime are some of the ex-Russian puppets, the Khalq and the Parcham, who tortured and killed countless innocent democratic-minded people. Such "unity" may serve the U.S./NATO interests in Afghanistan, but will lead to another reign of terror and brutalities upon our poor people.

As history shows, the U.S. has relied on criminals, dictators, human rights violators, and reactionary forces in many other countries of the world. Recently in Libya the U.S. and NATO supported fundamentalists who are worse than Qaddafi; in Syria they are supporting Al-Qaeda and other such dirty groups. So it is not surprising that they are once again working with the Taliban and with Hekmatyar and other criminals in my country.

It was the U.S. that brought the warlords into power in Kabul, and the U.S./NATO puppet Karzai is even more shameless than previous Afghan puppets of the British and the Russians. While the puppets of Russia and Britain negotiated behind closed doors, Karzai is publicly selling Afghanistan to a foreign master. The so-called strategic agreements like the Bilateral Security Agreement provide for long-term U.S./NATO military bases in Afghanistan. The U.S. wants to remain in Afghanistan because of its geopolitical location: to be able to control other Asian powers like Pakistan, Iran, Russia and China.

Karzai and Obama are working on an outline of an agreement for legalizing permanent military bases in Afghanistan. But as long as we have foreign military bases in our country, we have no independence.  And when we have no independence, we have nothing, and all talk of democracy, human rights and women's rights is a joke.  Afghanistan is the second most corrupt country in the world.  And Afghanistan is the worst place to be a woman, according to a recent international study.  They are looting our rich mineral deposit mines worth three trillion dollars, and they are raking in money from the drug trade.

For the U.S. government, the wellbeing of the Afghan people has no value at all.  The U.S. elites just want relative stability in order to continue the occupation and maintain military bases in Afghanistan without much trouble. If “stability” can be achieved by empowering the worst enemies of Afghan people, they are ready to do this. After all, the U.S. schemes to interfere with and control Afghanistan did not begin with 9/11. They go back for decades.

What means has the U.S. used to interfere with and control Afghanistan?

The warlords who were put into power in Kabul by the U.S. are extremist fundamentalists. In the 1980s, during the Cold War, they received much financing and support from the ISI (the Inter-Services Intelligence agency of Pakistan) and from the CIA to fight the Soviets. The warlords were known to be misogynists; for example, one of their leaders was Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (founder of Hezb-e Islami), a fanatic who in the early 1970s ordered his followers to throw acid into the faces of Afghan women who refused to wear burkas in Kabul. 

The U.S. government supported and nourished these fundamentalists to kill democratic, leftist, secular and progressive people in Afghanistan.  Eight fundamentalist parties were created -- seven in Pakistan and an eighth in Iran -- and each of them wanted to be the one in power. After they ousted the Soviet-backed regime in Afghanistan, they conducted a brutal civil war among themselves in Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996.  Alone in Kabul the warlords killed more than 65,000 innocent people and turned the city into ashes.

In the 1990s, the CIA provided financing to the ultra-fundamentalist Taliban and encouraged Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to support the Taliban in their drive to power; in 1996, the Taliban defeated the warlords and ruled Afghanistan for five years. 

In 2001, after ousting the Taliban regime with the help of the warlords, the U.S. government announced that it had learned from past mistakes and would not empower Islamic fundamentalism again. But in reality they are still helping the brutal fundamentalists and imposing the old criminals and looters upon us. Islamic fundamentalism is once again the main tool in the hands of the U.S. to control Afghanistan, to suppress progressive and freedom-loving forces of my country, and to stop the emergence of a powerful democratic anti-occupation movement.

The power of media has been another effective way for the U.S. to mislead Afghans, especially the youth, to say "yes" to the occupation and to the continuing presence of foreign military bases in Afghanistan. Over the past eleven years, the U.S. has promoted media in Afghanistan and has spent large sums of money on propaganda and “soft war.” Almost all the major media outlets in the country are under U.S. control. A large majority of the Afghan people is illiterate, and we have no independent, progressive media to neutralize and counteract the pro-U.S. media.

The NGOs are another tool of the U.S. and other NATO countries in Afghanistan. Through financing NGOs, they buy the loyalty of some Afghans and use them as their puppets to advance their. agenda in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, there are many Afghans, especially intellectuals, who are paving the way for a continued U.S./NATO occupation.

There are many reports that the U.S. and NATO want to keep a significant "troop presence" in Afghanistan well after 2014. But if all the foreign troops were to leave, would there be civil war in Afghanistan?

There is already a civil war, a dangerous civil war. Whether the foreign troops stay or leave, war is going on.  The presence of foreign troops only makes our struggle for justice harder, because the occupiers empower reactionary warlords -- and now also empower Taliban, along with killers from the past Russian puppet regime.  At least if the foreign troops leave, one of the biggest evils will be gone.  Then we will face internal enemies.  If the occupation leaves, at least the Taliban will not get more powerful. If the troops honestly leave, the backbone of these terrorists will break.  They will become like orphans, because their godfather is the U.S., which was also the godfather of Al Qaida.  

We are fed up with the so-called helping hand of the U.S. and NATO that is used to justify occupation.  The mother and father of all these tragedies is the occupation itself and the U.S./NATO support of the killers of my people.  When the occupation leaves, these fundamentalists will get weak.  They have no roots in the heart of the people, and their backbone will break.  If the U.S. stops helping terrorists and killers, then they may not be in a position to wage a civil war and destroy Afghanistan like they did in 90’s.

So the first request of the people is: Leave Afghanistan and stop supporting our enemies.

Have you seen any improvements at all for the people under the U.S./NATO occupation, for example in the situation of women?

The situation of women in Afghanistan was used as an excuse for the U.S. and NATO to occupy our country.  But it is clear they were not fighting on behalf of women, because they have put into power the reactionary warlords who are sworn enemies of women.  If your family were bombed in a wedding party or your daughter raped by Taliban, what would be your reaction?  And you want to negotiate with them?

There is no question that some schools and universities have been built during the U.S./NATO occupation, and some money has been given to the Karzai regime for projects on behalf of women's and human rights.  Meanwhile, tens of thousands of civilians, most of them women and children, have been killed during these eleven years of occupation.  They even used white phosphorous; they even bombed wedding parties. 

In comparison to the dark period of the medieval-minded Taliban, today there is now a Ministry of Women, and 25% of the representatives in the parliament are women. But the female representatives have mainly a symbolic function, and little is done for ordinary women. In the larger cities like Kabul and Herat, women have some jobs and education, but in most of Afghanistan their lives are hell. The media don't write much about the many women who are raped or stoned to death in public.  Hundreds of schools have been closed, and even in Kabul women don't have security going to school; in many provinces acid is thrown in their faces. In most places killing a woman is still as easy as killing a bird.

Due to lack of justice and pressure on women, last year 2300 suicide cases were recorded among Afghan women, which has no parallel in our history.

These warlords are misogynists, just like the Taliban, and they don't want women's rights in Afghanistan; a few token fundamentalist ladies wearing beautiful clothes should not fool people.   And many of the women who have positions, who run NGOs, are corrupt and have received money from the occupation; they betray the truth and justify the U.S. occupation and are even ready to negotiate with the Taliban.  Through this, the situation of women will become more bloody and more of a disaster.

Under the U.S./NATO occupation, there is day by day a widening gap between rich and poor. A small percentage of drug-lords, warlords and corrupt officials have everything in their hands while a large majority of the people suffers from poverty and unemployment. Under the occupation, Afghanistan has become the biggest producer of opium and heroin in the world. With the efforts of the U.S. and NATO, Afghanistan has become the capital of the world drug Mafia and also now tops the list of the world's most corrupt countries (according to a recent study by Transparency International). All of the “achievements," if any, that can be attributed to the occupation are spoiled by these shameful epidemics that have had and will continue to have a long-run disastrous effect on the whole society.

Where do you place your hopes for the future of Afghanistan?

I tell people, don't just see two fronts like the Taliban vs. the occupation or the warlords vs. the occupation.  There is a third front of democratic-minded  intellectuals, activists, parties, organizations, groups, and individuals.  Focus on them.

The Afghan people are fed up.  Fundamentalism and occupation are no longer accepted among the common people because of the brutalities and savagery they have experienced over the past decade. There is more openness, now, to progressive and democratic organizations and ideas. With the passage of time, I hope for the emergence of a powerful justice-loving alternative in Afghanistan. The U.S. is the main obstacle towards the development of such democratic forces.

Some people are deceived by the anti-imperialist banner of the Taliban, and education is in fact the key to get rid of all of these miseries, all of this ignorance. I remember someone called me when I was in Kabul and said, "Oh my sister, I am in the mountains. I support you. I agree with you. You are against occupation. You are against these warlords.  I went to the Taliban to take my revenge against the warlords" -- and he told me a long story on the telephone.  I said, "Please come down from the mountains. Don't go with the Taliban. Going with one terrorist to take revenge on another terrorist makes no sense. They are deceiving you."  He said, "Yes, I agree with you, but there is no way for me."  And I discussed with him. This is part of the important role of democratic-minded activists. 

When women learn to read and write, many of them become extraordinary activists, and these brave women are running projects and organizations that are really working on behalf of women's and human rights, like RAWA, like OPAWC, like the Social Association of Afghan Justice Seekers, and a few others that I know who are also justice-seekers.  And now women are even coming onto the streets and demonstrating, wearing the burka, in resistance against the U.S. and NATO and also against the Islamic fundamentalists. This is a positive example and a source of hope. In the history of Afghanistan, we have never before seen this kind of activism by women. 

In different parts of Afghanistan there are small protests -- in Kabul, in Jalalabad, in Helmand Province and in Farah Province, and in many other places -- and for the first time women are joining these protests.  I hope that with time, there will be a broader movement in Afghanistan like in many of the Arab countries.  It will take time.  

As the great German writer Bertolt Brecht said, "Those who struggle may fail. Those who do not struggle have already failed."

If you were invited to speak to the U.S. and NATO officials, what would you say?

Stop this criminal war in my country as soon as possible. Your war, waged under a fake banner of human rights and democracy, is in fact a war against poor Afghan people. You are not only traitors to the Afghan people, but to your own people as well. You are stealing from the pockets of poor Americans and Europeans and wasting billions of dollars on killing and looting in order to safeguard only the interests of a very small, elite minority.  You have a massive war and propaganda machine to sell your lies. But the world's conscience, which includes a large number of U.S. antiwar veterans, is against you: you can’t overturn it by any means. So your war machinery is doomed to fail, and the toiling people of the world will win.

Victory! Amnesty-USA Head Suzanne Nossel Resigns

You may remember the storm of controversy over bus shelter ads posted by Amnesty International-USA during the NATO summit in Chicago last summer: Amnesty's Shilling for US Wars by Coleen Rowley and Ann Wright presented the problem with the claim that Afghan women and girls have seen "progress" under a decade of NATO occupation, and more generally that war for humanitarian reasons is not an oxymoron.

Ads run by AI-USA under Suzanne Nossel's leadership, June 2012, Chicago.

Many of us active in opposing the war in Afghanistan were appalled that a formerly reputable human rights organization appeared to be the doing the dirty propaganda work of the U.S. government, echoing falsehoods concocted at the State Dept. Then we found out who Suzanne Nossel used to work for -- the U.S. State Dept. In fact she had built her career publishing justifications for so-called "Smart Power" i.e. using human rights goals as a vehicle for promoting U.S. interests abroad. Also, insiders at AI-USA reported she had been firing key staff and replacing them with State Dept. alumni.

AI-USA received a demand in July signed by many of its own members and by concerned activists that they ask Nossel to step down.

CODEPINK co-director Rae Abileah and NYC local coordinator Cristina Castro protested outside AI-USA's board meeting in Manhattan, helping to educate directors who were arriving for the meeting.

Nossel resigned recently, effective Jan. 11, 2013

Which revolving door back into government will Nossel emerge from? Will she be on hand to help with "humanitarian(sic) intervention" in Syria perhaps? Some think her ambition is to replace Susan Rice as heiress apparent to Hillary Clinton's job. No matter where Nossel lands, AI-USA is better off without her. Here's their board chair's letter announcing her resignation:

Message from Shahram Hashemi, AIUSA Board Chair 
Dear Colleagues, 
AIUSA today announced that Executive Director Suzanne Nossel has tendered her resignation effective January 11, 2013.  We are grateful to Suzanne for her dedication and efforts to strengthen AIUSA's wide ranging efforts and initiatives.  We know her long-term focus on achieving human rights will continue and we wish her well in her future endeavors.  AIUSA's strong senior leadership team ensures that the organization continues to move ahead to implement the new Strategy and Business Plan and is ready at all times to initiate critical human rights activities.  Our staff, volunteer leaders, members and our global movement are our core assets in the continual effort to protect individuals at risk and keep human rights at the forefront of national and international issues.  

Transitions in leadership can be difficult, but we’re committed to moving forward quickly.  First, we will immediately begin an executive search process.  Second, we have a plan in place: AIUSA is fortunate that the Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, Stacey Bain and the Chief Advocacy Officer, Frank Jannuzi have agreed to act as interim directors as we work through this process.   

The strength of AIUSA and the AI movement comes from a potent mix of our tireless members, expert volunteers, generous supporters and professional staff.  Thank you all for your hard work over this past year and in the challenging months ahead. Together we will move Amnesty another step closer to securing human rights for all people. 
Thank you very much, 
Shahram Hashemi Chair, Board of Directors at Amnesty International USA

Meanwhile, look for more justifications for war on the grounds of human rights from the hypocritical and rapacious U.S. empire. And find your own facts about how women and girls are faring in Afghanistan with NATO there to "protect" them.

Source: the excellent Afghan Women's Writing Project: Telling One's Story Is A Human Right

U.S. Airstrikes Kill, Not Protect, Afghan Women

Source: Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty "Wounded Afghan women lie in beds in a hospital in Mihtarlam, Laghman Province, on September 16, when NATO was accused of killing eight women who were gathering wood."

Afghan women out gathering firewood to cook breakfast were victims of a U.S. airstrike last weekend in the mountainous eastern part of the country. Some are hospitalized; eight of them will no longer have to worry about their rights under NATO occupation, because they are dead. The president of Afghanistan bleated loudly while the U.S. apologized to the families. ("Apologized" in this context means saying we are fighting the war on terror and your mother/wife/sister/grandmother/daughter was just collateral damage and here's some money.)

According to the New York Times report:

The airstrikes took place in the Alingar district of Laghman Province. The coalition said the strikes were called in around 2 a.m. during a firefight with insurgents that had been spotted moving through the area...

Coalition forces were apparently unaware that village women sometimes go into the woods in the early hours of the morning to fetch wood for cooking fires they need to have going by breakfast time.

Source: Reuters / women gathering cooking fuel in Bagram, northern Afghanistan

Sign my petition here to ask Amnesty International-USA to stop promoting the lie that NATO presence in Afghanistan benefits women.

Women in Pakistan, another U.S. "ally" and one that shares that mountainous border with Afghanistan, get killed by airstrikes, too. As do their husbands/fathers/sons/uncles/nephews and even their todllers and infants.

Source: The Atlantic, from a story on women in Peshawar, Pakistan protesting airstrikes that kill civilians on a regular basis.

CODEPINK and allies will be making a trip to Pakistan to stand with the families of airstrike victims in October. You can still join the Peace Delegation, or make a donation for a scholarship.

Meanwhile blowback included violent demonstrations against U.S. visible presence around the world at embassies in Thailand, Indonesia, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Kashmir, London and Benghazi (killed the ambassador there). US News & World Report said their polling showed the embassy attacks were the most watched news stories last week, even more than infotainment about the upcoming corporate-sponsored presidential election.

Most in the U.S. will believe mainstream media spin that these demonstrations are about an amateurish film insulting the founder of Islam. Sure they are. Presumably they have nothing to do with decades of violent repression of democracy and life around the globe.

I'll leave you with a favorite tweet from first anniversary of Occupy Wall St. demonstrations in NYC on September 17:

AliAbunimah: BREAKING: NYPD vows to protect Wall Street holy sites from angry protestors bent on offending the profit. #s17 #MuslimRage

Real News From Afghanistan, For Those With Ears To Hear It

Girls salvage spilled aid flour in Kabul last winter. Source: Andrea Bruce, NYT

Kathy Kelly came to Portland Maine and gave a talk August 20. She conveyed real news, anecdotal reporting from recent visits to Kabul where she and other members of Voices for Creative Nonviolence work with the Afghan Peace Volunteers.

Source: Andrea Bruce, NYT

Since we heard Kathy speak, my husband and I agree; we can't stop picturing a refugee camp in a cold climate, one with 10,000 people freezing in winter, and starving the year round, many of them ill. 

Source: Andrea Bruce, NYT

Most of these internally displaced people used to be agriculturalists but were driven off their land by by war or, in some cases, by drought because former irrigation systems were ruined by war. So, war. Many are dependent on international aid for their calories.

Fun times in the mess hall at Bagram Air Base. Source: probamablog.com

Across the street we picture the gigantic military base/embassy under construction; when completed, it will be even bigger than the behemoth base we indebted taxpayers built in Baghdad. It is a fortress with gates controlled by heavily armed men who allow only designated people and vehicles to enter. A steady stream of trucks passes through the gates carrying fuel, water, food, and just about everything else people would need to do the work of invading another country. Kathy says when she flies into Kabul her plane is full of private contractors, beefy ex-military men going to work for $120k a year, $80k of it tax exempt.

Source: "US contractors face murder charges" Al-Jazeera

All of this adds up to $2 billion per week. Kathy pays no taxes to the I.R.S. and hasn't for years.

In the camp across from Bagram, children starve to death. Their mothers tell Kathy they feel like they are going insane because of the constant worry that they can't feed their families. Female life expectancy has declined to 42 years since NATO came to town and stayed on.

Source: "Children killed by drone strikes"

A family invited Kathy to witness the injuries of their young daughter, lifting off the covers to show her damaged body, explained with one sinister word: "Drone." Kathy asked people, where do the drones comes from? "Nevada."

Now Kathy tells Afghan women that she knows, seamstresses in Kabul, that people in the U.S. think that NATO presence has improved women's rights. At this they have a hearty laugh. Their view is that Karzai's regime, backed by the military might of the U.S., has been able to get restrictive laws passed that even the Taleban was not able to push through. Laws making a woman subject to her husband pander to conservative elements whose support is needed to keep Karzai and cronies propped up.

Source: Russiablog.com

Kathy told us there is only one road in and out of the country at the eastern end of Afghanistan when Pakistan shuts down border crossings over incursions by Afghan troops hunting militants in Pakistan's territory. Or drone strikes, of which there are about two a week these days under Obomber. This one road's decrepit tunnel through the mountain allows 12 hours of traffic eastbound, followed by 12 hours westbound. It can take up to 17 days for an farmer to get a truckload of produce from field to market. Sometimes the cargo molds or rots before the truck gets through.

Kathy theorizes that if people in the U.S. can believe that U.S. wars are humanitarian wars, then they will go along without resisting.

Under the influence of Fox News, her own mother insisted that people in Iraq ought to be grateful to Americans for liberating them from Saddam Hussein, whom they could have gotten rid of on their own, but didn't. Kathy had been many times to Baghdad, bringing back the truth of life choked by sanctions, bombarded by Shock and Awe. But her mother insisted, "They should thank us."

I suppose Kathy's explanation is as good as any for why 2/3 of us are against the war in Afghanistan, but very few of us raise our voices to protest -- I was going to say the U.S.'s longest war but Kathy says it's wrong to call it that. The first Gulf War + 13 years of sanctions + a "withdrawal" that left tens of thousands of troops and contractors behind in Iraq is really the longest.

War is not even an issue this election season. It's the economy, stupid. And by the way,

Kathy is a faith-based activist who cries out against the war on the poor everywhere, from the prison-industrial system of this country, to the oppression of Palestinians, to the starving, freezing and mangling of children in the way of our access to the oil and gas reserves of the Caspian Sea.

Source: "Who runs the Madhouse?" by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts

Her theory about our citizens' confusion and indifference reminds me of the phrase attributed to Jesus of Nazareth before giving instruction to groups: "For those who have ears to hear..."

Source: "Pump down the volume? Re people who watch movies in restaurants, cafes"

Countering the U.S./NATO Narrative About "Protecting" Afghan Women

Just as I was writing this post came word that a regional head of women's affairs in Afghanistan had been assassinated.

NANGARHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A regional head of women's affairs was targeted and killed by a car bomb in Afghanistan's east on Friday, officials said, the latest act of brazen violence against women in the country.

Hanifa Safi was killed while driving through the capital of Laghman province, Mehtar Lam, when a bomb attached to her car exploded, provincial governor spokesman Sarhadi Zwak said.

Update on CODEPINK coordinated  efforts to counter NATO and the U.S. State Dept narrative that NATO's continued presence supports security for women in Afghanistan:

This week Amnesty-USA staff and board members received copies of an open letter to the board signed by many individuals and organizations. The press release reviewed on a June 27 conference call on Afghan women which I coordinated was also sent out yesterday to multiple press contacts.

This morning in NYC two Codepink women -- Local Coordinator Cristina Castro and CP co-director Rae Abileah -- stood in front of Amnesty-USA as board members arrived for two days of meetings. They also hand delivered the letter, as CP co-founder Jodie Evans had done at a donor meeting Tuesday in Los Angeles (full report on that action in Alternet).

Here are the banners held by Cristina and Rae this morning in NYC:



Here is Rae's report on the action:

We got many positive responses including a long conversation with board VP Jessica Carvahlo Morris. All the board members I spoke with had received the letter by email and read it as well. Jessica said thanks for holding us accountable. She has been with amnesty a long time; her father was tortured. 

The Amnesty interns at first were offended and then said they agreed (after I proved I was not the enemy by qualifying that I volunteered with Amnesty & Doctors without Borders in college). 

Lots of support from people on the street. Opposition was from people who said, If US/NATO leaves Afghan women will suffer more.

(Amnesty's board) is also discussing Israel/Palestine today, and all the budget cuts and firings.

Also, many are signing this petition that mirrors a protest from Amnesty-USA members and staff about recent layoffs and closing of regional offices. Thanks to longtime member Carlos Salinas for the link: https://www.change.org/petitions/executive-director-and-board-of-directors-of-amnesty-international-usa-stop-the-layoffs

Lip Service to Security for Afghan Women and Girls, Billions For Contractors Plus Arming Men

When international donors got together in Tokyo last weekend to talk about who would pledge -- and maybe even remit -- $16 billion in aid through 2015, only two of the thirty-seven delegates from Afghanistan were women: Humaira Ludin Etmadi, and Nahid Surabi.  Neither are prominent leaders, but the former works closely with Hamid Karzai, and the latter is closely linked with Afghanistan's Finance Ministry. So a whopping 5.4% of delegates were women representing...the Afghan national government.

Who represented the common people of Afghanistan, women and their families suffering under attacks from three sides? Victimized by 1) NATO bombing, drones and night raids; 2) insurgent attacks, IEDs and suicide bombings; and 3) corrupt national and provincial government officials, like police who raped teenager Lal Bibi -- and then claimed a mullah married them right beforehand, so it was perfectly legal.

And let's not forget the most recent outrage: video of an execution by shooting of a woman about an hour from Kabul, reportedly by Taliban leaders though spokesmen denied they were responsible. Witnesses in the area say the woman was the sexual prey of two different Taliban leaders, and that she was brutalized and ultimately killed in a contest between them last month. A crowd of men cheer as she dies, but we never see her, crouching beneath the blue burqa.

So this is where matters stand after ten years of violent occupation, which followed ten years of U.S. armed civil war (many of those who participated are now seated in Parliament), which followed ten years of proxy war funded by the U.S. in opposition to the Soviets.

But, hey, NATO, keep the progress going!

Source: The Guardian's excellent coverage of the Tokyo summit.

Here's U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with an Afghan woman. Oops, no, on second glance that is Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar at one of many side talks in Tokyo. Because Pakistan's government has been so good for Afghan stability and security over the years, assassinating civil leaders, and  harboring violent extremists. To ensure future stability, Pakistan agreed to re-open supply lines for NATO running across Pakistan. These had been closed to protest repeated drone bombings killing many civilians and alleged militants. Ironically, there were reports of a drone attack in Pakistan's tribal area bordering Afghanistan that very day. Hmm, maybe some more "aid" money changed hands.


Where will the aid money pledged to Afghanistan go? President Karzai swore, and EU delegates insisted, that corruption would be reined in or else funds would not be forthcoming. What about the respectable corruption of paying out millions to contractors from the U.S. and other Western powers who take a hefty profit margin? That will be swept under the carpet by corporate owned media, but it's a huge factor. It's much more useful to focus on the endemic corruption at high levels in the Afghan government, and to pretend that buying ordinary Afghan men weapons and uniforms builds up the ranks of properly trained police or soldiers who would actually provide security and enforce the rule of law for everyone.


Instead of what it actual does: provide impoverished fathers with an opportunity to sell the gun, fade back into their village, feed their children, and then reappear elsewhere to go through the whole cycle again. Afghanistan is supposed to have now armed and trained around 300,000 either security forces, with little to show for it.


But not to worry. Clinton also zoomed into town a day early to meet Karzai and designate Afghanistan a "major non-NATO ally." According to the Guardian: "Declaration on eve of donor conference allows for streamlined military co-operation including access to weapons and training."

So Afghan women and girls get screwed again. Your tax dollars at work!

Tweet For #AfghanWomen As We Occupy Sisterhood

by Favianna Rodriguez, Oakland, CA

It was a rocking good time to be with women and feminists at the Occupy National Gathering in Philadelphia during the run up to 4th of July. Besides being there with some of my favorite women from occupies everywhere (SF, LA, NYC, Maine, New Haven, etc) I got to have a workshop which amounted to a long conversation on how our government is using Afghan women's rights as a cover to keep military forces in Afghanistan. About 35 people sat down around a pink Bust Bank Of America banner laid on the shady grass of Franklin Plaza in 100 degree heat, and shared what we knew.

This photo is funny because, like at many Occupy gatherings, there seem to be more media recorders than there are participants. But the great thing about it is, that OccupyFreedomLA was not only livestreaming the workshop discussion, but also archived it here. So that makes it a bigger conversation that goes beyond the temporal space we were in beneath our pink flag (created to help people find the various workshops).

Since I was facilitating and not taking notes, I'll share the things that stayed with me that other people said (what I said is mostly summarized here in an article published July 3 on Common Dreams). A young veteran shared that war is designed to destroy things, not protect people's rights. Also that women are treated horribly both in and by the U.S. military. An older vet shared that Status of Forces Agreements with the governments of countries with military occupations grant immunity to the acts of soldiers, and this is a danger to everyone living there.

Gasps from those listening when I shared that Afghan women currently have an average life expectancy of 51 years, and that the war on Afghanistan costs U.S. taxpayers $230,000+ a minute.

Sarah from OWS saying at the end: "This workshop was really rad!"

I also shared that a bunch of us from CODEPINK and MADRE would be tweeting about how #AfghanWomen should be at the table in talks on security and development (90% of that funding currently goes to army and police instead of toward real development) in Tokyo July 8-9. You can follow that hashtag and join in if you want to help make this demand.

Then I was so hot and exhausted that I retreated to the oasis of a Vietnamese restaurant to enjoy fresh  lemonade and cold noodles. A short nap on the grass and some yoga (thanks to a new friend from OWS who lent me her mat) which may have baffled police who were lurking around but revived me enough to participate in the first ever national level Feminist GA!

About 200 people came together to say how patriarchy affects them and their communities, and what visions they hold for the future of Mother Earth and her humans. Because there were so many of us, introductions happened in groups of three, which joined to make slightly larger breakout groups to discuss why we had come to a public feminist discussion, and the kind of world we had in mind for the future. My group was composed of a young women from South Korea who emigrated to escape the stultifying patriarchy of her own culture, a young man from OWS, a young man from France, a young woman studying science and marveling at its past uses as a tool to manipulate, control and destroy life. Robin, a new contact I had heard give the most rousing call to citizen journalism in front of Fox News during an earlier March to End Corporate Personhood, an older man who seemed like an academic, bringing a queer perspective, and a young man with strong views on mass media images of women. We had a great discussion, mostly because of the engaged listening.

Then came time for the report backs. At first these were shouted out ("Access the collective wisdom of women worldwide!") but eventually people lined up at the microphone to be audible while telling something they had heard in their breakout discussion.

Chris Hedges, who described the blinders of privilege, another guy who started talking about himself at length and was eventually shushed, and Ivanaka, a major organizer of the FemGA. I forget the name of the woman in the hat, who spoke eloquently about how frustrating living under patriarchy can often be.

Eventually from this work came a Feminist Declaration that was read out in public on July 4.

When I find the text of it I'll share, along with the video I'm working on of the Feminist GA from footage shot by me and Curtis Cole. There are also livestream recordings of the GA where you would hear even more voices -- with so many small breakout groups, it would have been nearly impossible to capture them all on video. Check out OccupyFreedomLA's Ustream channel for those.

Did I mention that I got to meet Lisa Fithian, one of my organizing she-ros? She spoke earlier in the day during assembly about being pissed off and using that energy to organize ourselves. Inspiring! Unfortunately I was gone by the time Medea Benjamin arrived so I missed the workshop on how to Occupy Peace (recording here in case you did, too).

A couple of final pictures to show -- better than words could do -- Why We Occupy: