Black Alliance for Peace Timeline Demonstrates United States Responsible for Chaos in Afghanistan

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SEPTEMBER 7, 2021—The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) Solidarity Network’s Afghanistan Committee has produced a detailed timeline demonstrating the United States is responsible for the crisis in Afghanistan, and that the mainstream media helped fuel the situation.

This resource for the media, activists and the public traces the events from July 2019 to August 2021 that led to the poorly executed U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which further wreaked havoc for the Afghan people and violated their right to self-determination. 

“U.S. leaders and media act as if the social crisis and reactionary violence in Afghanistan is something new,” says Afghanistan Committee member Zach Kerner. “But the reality is this turmoil is a direct result of U.S. aggression and policies over the past 40 years.”

Less than a month before U.S. military forces were set to “withdraw” from Afghanistan, the U.S.-backed government collapsed and the Taliban assumed control, establishing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Then U.S./NATO military forces all but fled the country and a major refugee crisis ensued. Unfortunately, the U.S. mainstream media only began focusing its attention on Afghanistan in August.

“Members of the Afghanistan Committee have been collectively committed to understanding and keeping up-to-date with U.S. warmaking and meddling in Afghanistan, well before the recent withdrawal,” says Afghanistan Committee member Frances Hasso. “This is why we do not believe U.S. ‘forever wars’ will end here. This recent timeline of U.S. statements regarding its role in Afghanistan provides much needed historical context.”     

The BAP Solidarity Network encourages activists and organizations to study this timeline to help them further understand why the United States and its allies bear responsibility for the situation. The network hopes the developments in Afghanistan will inspire more resistance to the U.S. occupation in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere around the world.

Since February, the Solidarity Network’s Afghanistan Committee has produced monthly newsletters, as well as press releases, fact sheets and a well-received webinar, all of which can be found on BAP’s Afghanistan resources page.

Banner photo: U.K. armed forces work with the U.S. military to evacuate eligible civilians and their families out of the Afghanistan. (MoD Crown Copyright via Getty Images)

Black Alliance for Peace Condemns U.S. Attempt to Continue War on Afghanistan As Afghan President Visits Biden

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JUNE 25, 2021—As Afghan President Ashraf Ghani makes his rounds this week in Washington, the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) opposes any effort to prolong the U.S. war on the Afghan people, including efforts to keep the United States engaged in any form in Afghanistan.

While Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby has insisted withdrawal plans for September 11 remain unchanged, BAP doubts the sincerity of a full U.S. disengagement. Evidence indicates talks will prominently center around the likely collapse of the government in Kabul, the continued operation of U.S. special forces and mercenaries (or contractors) in Afghanistan, as well as U.S.-pledged support for Turkish military defense of Kabul International Airport, a site that has continued to be a major U.S. military stronghold to support its imperial presence. This, of course, would violate the U.S.-Taliban agreement the Taliban and the Trump administration signed in February 2020.

Based on the evidence, BAP believes points of discussion between Ghani and U.S. President Joe Biden will include reassurance of increased material and mercenary support for the Afghan security forces—still heavily dependent on the United States and now rapidly losing ground to Taliban forces—and facilitating evacuation for translators who worked for the U.S./NATO militaries. 

The Biden administration publicly has stated that during the meeting with Ghani, it intends to “highlight the enduring partnership between the [United States] and Afghanistan” and its commitment to the Afghan government, which the United States has spent billions of dollars to support. But privately, many in the U.S. ruling class are anticipating the U.S.-backed government’s eventual collapse, possibly as soon as the end of the year.

In April, BAP criticized Biden for extending the troop withdrawal date from the agreed-upon May 1 to September 11. As BAP has previously stated, choosing the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks as the official withdrawal date perpetuates the false claim that the Taliban government was involved in the 9/11 attacks.

In the two decades of U.S.-led war on Afghanistan, well over 100,000 Afghans have died, with over 47,000 of them civilians. BAP continues to demand that the United States and NATO remove all foreign troops and mercenary contractors, and end all aggression against and interference in Afghanistan, in adherence with the initial 2020 Doha agreement and the principles of sovereignty as outlined in the UN Charter and international law. We also continue to call on the United States to respect the human rights of the Afghan people and the rights of all colonized people the world over, including inside its borders.

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Banner photo: President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan met with U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on June 24, 2021. (Sarahbeth Maney/The New York Times)

May 1: Making International Workers' Day a Day of Action Against Imperialism

May 1: Making International Workers’ Day a Day of Action Against Imperialism

End the War in Afghanistan, Shut Down AFRICOM, Resist the Militarized Occupation of Black and Brown Working-Class and Colonized Communities

War, repression, and imperialism characterize the objective plight of billions of humans still gripped by the vicious colonial-capitalist world system. May 1 is the day laboring classes claim for themselves as International Workers' Day to reaffirm the struggle against the dehumanization and degradation of the global capitalist order kept in place by state violence and war. May 1 also is the deadline the United States agreed to last year to pull out of Afghanistan to end the suffering of that nation of workers and peasants. It also is the day the workers and poor of Haiti have chosen to revolt against the puppet government imposed on them by the Biden-Harris administration, a duo that has proven in its first 100 days its commitment to Black life does not extend beyond domestic public-relations stunts.

Over a million Black working-class and poor people rot in the gulags of the United States as a surplus population, unneeded by capital except as an income generator for prison custodians and slave labor. And for the rest of the Black and Brown working class and poor, the domestic army referred to as the police are tasked with the responsibility to protect and serve the capitalist extraction of surplus value from labor through coercion and, when needed, terror.

This is the domestic expression of a global system that produces billions of people living in abject poverty in nations ruled by a contemptible neocolonial ruling class, usually supported by the United States or one of the other European colonial powers. These neocolonial puppets have no hesitation in using unimaginable violence to keep the people in line.

But the people are in resistance.

In Haiti, the people have fought for their collective dignity against a U.S. stooge for over a year. Having taken to the streets in the thousands, they have sustained the resistance to the point that the state has turned to increasingly desperate, escalating violence in its goal to contain the people.

In the United States, hundreds of wildcat strikes have occurred, demonstrating that even in the midst of a pandemic, the spirit of working-class resistance finds expression.

And in Venezuela, the Bolivarian process is still holding firm against all measures of U.S. provocations and cruel sanctions meant to punish the people, who refuse the indignity of surrender to Yankee imperialism.

The inability of capitalist states to protect the fundamental human rights of its citizens, revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic, has resulted in a new consciousness among workers and laboring classes globally. It now is clear the interests of the global capitalists are different from the interests of the rest of collective humanity. And because of that understanding, the warmongers are finding it a little more difficult to mobilize the public to protect imperialist interests.

On May 1, the Black Alliance for Peace stands in solidarity with the workers of the world and pledges our commitment to do our part to confront the capitalist dictatorship.

We say without hesitation or concern for retaliation on this International Workers' Day that we will intensify the opposition to imperialism. From the streets of Atlanta, Detroit and Baltimore, to Cuba, Haiti, Libya, and Venezuela, we will “turn imperialist wars into wars against imperialism.”

Banner photo: A sea of Cubans march under the slogan, "Preserve and Perfect Socialism," in Havana on May 1, 2012, to mark Labor Day. (Adalberto Roque)

Black Alliance for Peace Organizes International Webinar to Debunk U.S. Logic to Continue to Occupy Afghanistan

For Immediate Release

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The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) is hosting a webinar at 7 p.m. ET to help raise the consciousness of the U.S. public on the contradictions surrounding U.S. President Joe Biden's recent announcement that he would pull all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11.

As we have stated in previous statements, the United States is violating an international peace agreement signed with the Taliban by not abiding by the May 1 deadline for a troop pullout. Further, the September 11 date once again is symbolically tied to the September 11 attacks that had nothing to do with Afghanistan.

The U.S. war is part of its 40-year-long attempt to prevent other global powers from rising—namely, China, Iran and Russia. Keeping the region destabilized may hinder China's Belt and Road Initiative. Encircling Iran by destabilizing countries around it is another reason for the United States to stay in Afghanistan. And keep the neighbor of former Soviet satellites in a flux would keep Russia on its toes. In fact, the United States used Afghanistan as a proxy battleground against the former Soviet Union during the 1980s when it aided and armed reactionary mujahideen forces who fought against the government of Afghanistan, which was then supported by the Soviet Union.

"U.S. involvement in Afghanistan is nothing new," says National Organizer Ajamu Baraka. "U.S. officials already have indicated their plans for staying in Afghanistan past September 11 via military personnel and mercenaries known as 'private contractors.'"

The United States also has indicated other ways it sees to keep an eye on the country and be in close range for missile strikes, as BAP has laid out in its latest fact sheet. All of these plans are yet another violation of the U.S.-Taliban agreement of 2020, which stipulates no military attacks or threats of attacks on Afghanistan.

"The United States long ago privatized the war in Afghanistan with a current 7-to-1 ratio between private contractors and U.S. military personnel," says Solidarity Network Coordinator Julie Varughese. "The conversations taking place out in the open make it clear this war now will be completely privatized."

BAP's Principles of Unity include the Right to Self-Defense, Self-Determination and Anti-Imperialism. It is based on these principles that we call on the U.S. public to demand the U.S. government completely end all involvement in Afghanistan.

For decades, the United States has used disingenuous humanitarian interventions and the Responsibility to Protect as reasons for invading and occupying country after country. BAP demands an end to this policy and an end to all U.S. wars, subversions and sanctions from Latin America to the borders of Russia to the African continent and the Indo-Pacific region.

We invite members of the public to register for a 7 p.m. ET webinar, #MayDayAfghanistan: Building a People's Movement to End U.S. Imperialism in Afghanistan and Around the World. BAP has chosen to draw the connection between May 1, International Workers' Day, and the troop pullout deadline for that same day. We call on the working masses of the world to rise up to demand true democracy, transparency and self-determination for the people of Afghanistan.

Banner photo: U.S. Marines board a transport aircraft headed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, as British and U.S. forces withdraw from a complex in Helmand province in 2014. (Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty Images)

Black Alliance for Peace Criticizes Biden Administration's September 11 Withdrawal Plan as Violation of Peace Agreement

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Members of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) criticized U.S. President Joe Biden's announcement Wednesday that he would pull troops from Afghanistan on September 11, 2021, thereby violating a key component of a peace agreement negotiated by the previous administration.

A September 11 withdrawal—landing on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attack—reinforces the false impression that the Taliban government had something to do with the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

BAP is concerned the attempt to move the date of U.S. withdrawal past the agreed-upon May 1 deadline will give hardliners in the Biden-Harris administration the opportunity to create the conditions for continued U.S. occupation of Afghanistan by baiting the Taliban into renewed attacks.

"The Taliban now has announced it will not participate in any peace talks because the United States is not abiding by the 2020 U.S.-Taliban agreement hammered out in Doha," said National Organizer Ajamu Baraka. "Talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government were set to take place this month in Turkey. Now those talks are an impossibility."

BAP has detailed how powerful forces within the administration and among the foreign policy elite are trying to find ways to keep a U.S. military presence in Afghanistan to support broader geostrategic objectives, primarily countering Chinese influence.

NATO coalition forces also are expected to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan, but it is unclear when all NATO forces would leave.

As an internationalist organization, BAP wonders where else U.S. troops will be sent as the cold war on China is ramped up, Russia continues to be agitated and Africa remains a hotbed for U.S. military activity. We question if devastating sanctions would be slapped on the people of Afghanistan after a U.S. pullout, as in the cases of 1970s Vietnam and Iraq after the 1990s bombing campaign.

While Biden only acknowledged U.S. casualties, we will raise up the 100,000 Afghan deaths, and countless injuries and permanent disabilities. Many Afghans had been forced to flee their country because of the war, while others have been internally displaced.

BAP has consistently demanded U.S. adherence to the Doha peace agreement. BAP even organized an International Day of Action on Afghanistan on April 8 to help raise the public's awareness on the issue.

"We understood the Biden-Harris administration probably had made up its mind about withdrawal before April 8," said Solidarity Network Coordinator Julie Varughese. "But the point was to help raise the public's awareness, so a movement could begin to develop in the United States that could end U.S. imperialism in its tracks."

BAP continues to demand the United States and NATO pull all troops and contractors, and end all involvement. And we insist the United States respect the human rights of the Afghan people and colonized people the world over, including inside its borders.

U.S./NATO Out of Afghanistan!

Banner photo: U.S. President Joe Biden announced April 14, 2021, his intentions to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, beginning in May. (Pool photo by Andrew Harnik)

Black Alliance for Peace Questions Reports Claiming Biden Pulling Afghanistan Troops September 11

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Press reports were circulating April 13 that the Biden-Harris administration will not abide by the Doha agreement with the Taliban to withdraw U.S. forces by May 1, violating a key component of the peace agreement negotiated by the previous administration. It appears the Biden-Harris administration is floating September 11—the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attack—as a likely date to end the second longest U.S. war.

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) has consistently demanded U.S. adherence to the Doha peace agreement. BAP even organized an International Day of Action on Afghanistan on April 8 to help raise the public's awareness on the issue.

While BAP continues to gather information on this reported proposal, we are concerned that what is being floated by the corporate media will result in increased hostilities between the Taliban and U.S. forces, providing a pretext for increased U.S. military involvement. BAP has detailed how powerful forces within the administration and among the foreign policy elite are trying to find ways to keep a U.S. military presence in Afghanistan to support broader geostrategic objectives, primarily countering Chinese influence. Some of these issues were laid out during the April 13 episode of "Voices With Vision" on WPFW (89.3 FM in Washington, D.C.).

As an internationalist organization, BAP wonders if U.S. private contractors and NATO coalition forces from other countries—both of which outnumber U.S. military personnel—will remain in Afghanistan. What role would the United States play once troops are removed? We also ask where else U.S. troops will be sent as the cold war on China is ramped up, Russia continues to be agitated and Africa remains a hotbed for U.S. military activity. We question if devastating sanctions would be slapped on the people of Afghanistan after a U.S. pullout, as in the case of 1970s Vietnam and Iraq after the 1990s bombing campaign.

For all of these reasons and as we gather information on what appears to be an attempt to test the U.S. public's reaction, BAP continues to demand the United States and NATO pull all troops and contractors, and end all involvement. And we insist the United States respect the human rights of the Afghan people and colonized people the world over, including inside its borders.

U.S./NATO Out of Afghanistan!

Banner photo: U.S. Army soldiers return from a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan on Dec. 10, 2020. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Black Alliance for Peace Demands Biden-Harris Administration Comply with May 1 Deadline to Withdraw from Afghanistan

For Immediate Release

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APRIL 8, 2021—The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) demands the Biden-Harris administration adhere to the U.S.-Taliban peace agreement signed in February 2020 in Doha, Qatar, under which the United States committed, among other things, to withdraw U.S. and allied military forces, non-diplomatic civilian personnel, private contractors, and other advisors from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021.

As an African/Black-led internationalist organization with Principles of Unity such as the Right to Self-Defense and Self-Determination, BAP calls on organizations and individuals who oppose the U.S./EU/NATO Axis of Domination to participate in the International Day of Action on Afghanistan being held today to demand an end to the war in Afghanistan.

"This is part of BAP's effort to help revitalize the U.S. anti-imperialist movement, so it can become a force formidable enough to stop the U.S. war machine," said BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka.

As we approach the 20th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Afghanistan—and in outright defiance of the U.S.-Taliban peace agreement—President Joe Biden has stated he “can’t picture” the United States leaving Afghanistan anytime soon.

The blunt end of the war is not felt by the politicians in Washington spearheading it. Nor is it felt by the financial, political and foreign-policy elites of the Afghanistan Study Group, which has advocated for the continuation of this bloody war. Weapons companies (such as U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s former employer, Raytheon), and the investment banks and private equity firms that back them, continue to profit.

Rather, the pernicious effects of the war are felt by the Afghan people, especially the majority living in the countryside, where violence is expected to surge. People in neighboring countries also feel the impact as they are forced to mitigate the “spillover effects” of mass displacement as Afghans flee violence and destruction.

U.S.-led forever wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan and other countries across the world have led to millions of deaths, countless injuries and permanent disabilities, and millions of refugees and internally displaced people. Trillions of dollars of U.S. public funds have been spent to support these military operations that enrich the elites, while the poor and working masses in the United States and around the world continue to suffer.

That is why the Black Alliance for Peace calls on all justice-seeking people to join the International Day of Action on Afghanistan today. Social-media graphics and materials are available for download to help the public write letters to the editor and op-eds as well as organize teach-ins. Signatures also are requested for a petition.

#MayDayAfghanistan
U.S./NATO Out of Afghanistan!
Down with U.S. Imperialism!

Black Alliance for Peace Unveils Who's Behind Drive to Keep United States in Afghanistan

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) Solidarity Network's Afghanistan Committee produced information on a group of high-powered individuals who are trying to keep the United States in Afghanistan past the May 1 deadline set out in the U.S.-Taliban agreement brokered in 2020.

The Afghanistan Study Group (ASG) appears to be driving for a prolonged U.S. occupation of Afghanistan. The ASG is a bipartisan group of financial, political and foreign policy elites:

- Former U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), who serves on the boards of Caterpillar and Newscorp;
- Retired General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., who led U.S. forces in Afghanistan and now serves on the board of Lockheed Martin; and
- Nancy Lindborg, who worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development

The ASG recommends the United States abandon the peace agreement and disregard the May 1 deadline in favor of a conditions-based withdrawal. Its proposal would require at minimum a $50 billion/year economic support package until U.S. objectives are met.

"The ASG is attempting to keep the United States in Afghanistan because it represents big business, neocons and military contractors," says Zach Kerner, a member of the BAP Solidarity Network. "Keeping troops in Afghanistan means violence is likely to increase."

In fact, the Solidarity Network's analysis of the positions of the ASG concludes that if the U.S. fails to abide by the agreement it would almost inevitably result in military clashes between the Taliban and U.S. forces.

"The ASG’s recommendation guarantees a huge increase in troops," says Danny Haiphong, co-coordinator of the BAP Solidarity Network. "This would lead to more war and instability in Afghanistan and throughout the region."

The BAP Solidarity Network encourages anti-imperialist, anti-war activists and organizations to use a fact sheet on the Afghanistan Study Group in teach-ins. It also asks people to sign a petition to demand the Biden administration exit Afghanistan. Beyond that, it has developed a template to help the U.S. public write letters to the editors of news organizations to demand an end to the U.S. intervention.

No to the New Cold War!
U.S./NATO Out of Afghanistan!

Banner photo: Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with reporters on Sunday after meeting with the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani. The defense secretary declined to comment on a withdrawal deadline for U.S. troops tentatively set for May 1. (Afghan Presidential Palace, via Reuters)

Black Alliance for Peace Condemns U.S. Imperial Arrogance on 18th Anniversary of Iraq Invasion

Eighteen years ago today—motivated by the arrogance of white invincibility and the absence of a countervailing power with the collapse of the Soviet Union—the United States launched its criminal attack on the people and the nation of Iraq. This would be the second assault in less than two years, with the other being in Afghanistan. Two wars in two theaters simultaneously was thought to be manageable because the psychopathology of white supremacy had informed and continues to inform the U.S. worldview.

But millions of lives later—with the destruction of ancient cities and millions displaced—the only thing the United States has achieved is exposing to the world that it is a paper tiger and a rogue state that deserves no respect.

Today, the U.S. rogue state, now under a different regime but with the same mission, is still in Iraq. But it is now under fire from the very people who it pretended it was liberating. And the people of the world saw through this effort to re-colonize the so-called “Middle East.”

But what about in the United States?

The United States is a country in which war has become normalized. The people in some ways appear to be numbed by war, as the corporate propagandists shift their attention to China—preparing the population again for yet another criminal assault.

But we, in the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP), will not surrender to apathy. We say today that the United States must leave Iraq, must leave Afghanistan, must leave Syria, and must close its global bases and command structures. The world demands peace. But we know there can be no peace without justice. For justice, the oppressed, the exploited and the nationally oppressed must be willing to fight for it. We stand with the people of Iraq and with all those who yearn for peace and a new world, free from the cult of death that the United States continues to uphold.

Banner photo: A convoy of U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMVW), assigned to D/Company, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marines Division, arrives in Northern Iraq, during a sandstorm. USMC personnel are in Iraq in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. Several vehicles are equipped with Tube-launched Optically-tracked Wire-guided (TOW) missile launchers. (LTCpl Andrew P. Roufs, USMC)

Black Alliance for Peace Solidarity Network Demands NATO Support Peace Process in Afghanistan and Withdraw Its Forces

For Immediate Release

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MARCH 11, 2021—The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) Solidarity Network, made up of allied organizations and individuals, demands the North Atlantic Treaty Organization end its imperialist endeavor in Afghanistan and calls on the United States to abide by the 2020 U.S.-Taliban agreement by exiting Afghanistan by May 1.

The BAP Solidarity Network encourages anti-imperialist, anti-war people and organizations to sign a petition to demand the Biden administration exit Afghanistan. It also has developed a template to help the U.S. public write letters to the editors of news organizations to demand an end to the U.S. intervention.

The BAP Solidarity Network has uncovered through its research that although 2,500 U.S. troops occupy Afghanistan, 11,000 NATO troops representing 36 countries are in the war-riddled country. At a December 16, 2020 meeting, NATO allies agreed to a $1.94 billion 2021 military budget and a $312.5 million 2021 civil budget—all for its Afghanistan operations.

Tod Wolters, commander of the U.S. European Command—one of 11 global command structures the United States uses to dominate every inch of the world—also is NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe. He said, "Everything we do is about generating peace. We compete to win… and if deterrence fails, we're prepared to respond to aggression, primarily through NATO." That indicates NATO does not merely advise or train Afghan troops.

Today, the U.S. European Command and NATO, along with the Afghan Forces they finance, are shifting their objectives from the so-called anti-terrorist campaign to “peace building in Afghanistan."

"The BAP Solidarity Network understands this is only a cover for the real objectives, namely fighting the New Cold War against Russia, China and other countries not aligned with the U.S.-European imperialist consensus," says Zach Kerner, member of the BAP Solidarity Network.

While increasingly under threat of a global war, the people of Afghanistan continue suffering the immediate brunt of imperialist and capitalist interests in the region. To date, the U.S. empire and its European allies are complicit in the deaths of over 100,000 Afghan adults and children, leaving thousands more injured or permanently disabled. Two decades of dropping 50,000 bombs on a country the size of Texas has left Afghanistan with catastrophic levels of poverty, an economy in shambles, and health care workers struggling with the added burden of the pandemic. Nearly 3 million Afghans refugees have fled their country to escape the violence, making Afghanistan one of the world’s biggest sources of refugees, and over 2 million Afghans have been internally displaced. Two decades of war has cost the U.S. public more than $1 trillion.

Within days of taking office, the Biden administration signaled it would not abide by the U.S.-Taliban agreement, citing the importance of supporting a “stable, sovereign, democratic, and secure future for Afghanistan.”

"This is the same language we hear whenever the United States and NATO conspire to destabilize foreign countries hostile to U.S. and European capital," says Danny Haiphong, co-coordinator of the BAP Solidarity Network. "But we condemn the threat of the New Cold War and the continued war and occupation of Afghanistan, as we condemn the use of state violence and militarism against poor and working-class people of all nations. That is why we demand the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. and NATO forces as well as the financing of the war machine in Afghanistan and the region."

No to the New Cold War!
U.S./NATO out of Afghanistan!

Photo: The International Security Assistance Force color guard marches during the ISAF Joint Command (IJC) and XVIII Airborne Corps colors casing ceremony, Dec 8, 2014 at North Kabul Afghanistan International Airport, Afghanistan. ISAF is a NATO-led military mission in Afghanistan. (ISAF/Public Domain)

BAP Solidarity Network Demands Biden End War in Afghanistan

For immediate release

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In response to the Biden administration suggesting it will not complete the withdrawal of U.S. forces, per the Doha Agreement of February 2020, the Black Alliance for Peace Solidarity Network demands the United States end the war in Afghanistan.

The BAP Solidarity Network, comprised of non-African/Black people and organizations who support BAP’s anti-imperialist mission, released a petition (available in English and Spanish) today, calling on everyone committed to peace, human rights and common sense, to demand Biden re-start peace talks; immediately withdraw all U.S. forces, private contractors, and other mercenaries; close all U.S. bases; and respect the sovereignty of Afghanistan.

Nearly 20 years ago, the United States invaded the sovereign nation of Afghanistan, initiating decades of violence and occupation. To date, the war has resulted in the deaths of over 100,000 Afghan adults and children, leaving thousands more injured or permanently disabled.  

“As usual, it is the people of the United States who are forced to fund these imperialist endeavors,” according to Danny Haiphong, co-coordinator of the BAP Solidarity Network. “The financial cost to U.S. citizens has, so far, edged over $1 trillion, much of it lost in a sink-hole of corruption, or spent enriching military contractors and the financial elite.”  

After several months of negotiations, direct peace talks between the Taliban and the U.S.-installed Afghan government finally began this past September. The U.S. news media, Congress, the military-industrial complex, and the foreign-policy community immediately hit out in opposition against Trump’s brokered deal. Now, the Biden administration suggests it will not complete the withdrawal of U.S. forces, which the United States had agreed to when it and the Taliban signed the Doha Agreement in February 2020.

“It is time to stop the lies and for the Biden administration to end this bloody, trillion-dollar war,” says BAP Solidarity Network member Zach Kerner. “The U.S., the most violent country in the world, has been wreaking nothing but violence on the Afghan people for nearly 20 years. But now it is now claiming it cannot move forward on the peace process because of ‘violence.’” 

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The Black Alliance for Peace Solidarity Network is comprised of non-African/Black individuals and organizations that support the anti-imperialist, anti-war and pro-peace positions of the Black Alliance for Peace, an African/Black-led internationalist organization.

Photo credit: Jalil Rezayee/EPA, via Shutterstock

If you Believe in Peace, Commit to Defeating the Warmongers! No War with Iran!

No Retreat, No Compromise is the call the grassroots members of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) proclaim as we face the dogs of war, exploitation, and criminal imperialism. We fully expect the crisis of neoliberal capitalism to intensify as the rulers desperately attempt to salvage a world order that is rapidly changing to their disadvantage. 

But we know that in their desperation they will fall back on the one instrument that has been primarily responsible for their global hegemony - naked violence. 

It is imperative that the people of the U.S. Empire take clear moral and political positions in opposition to U.S. warmongering. The illegal and reckless attack on Qassem Soleimani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards of Iran, represents a dangerous escalation of rogue actions by the U.S. government that have been increasing in frequency over the last two decades, at home and abroad.

Yesterday the Trump regime established a military "surge" against the “enemy” in Afghanistan. Today it is bringing a military surge to the U.S. to fight the domestic enemy – the Black working class and poor - under the guise of fighting crime. We are clear, the real crime that the Trump surges are intent on fighting is the crime of resistance that historically has emerged from the African American peoples and the other colonized and nationally oppressed peoples. 

We will be ready. 

BAP is clear: we will not fight for the rich. We understand our objective interests as an oppressed people and will not be moved by appeals to national chauvinism meant to galvanize the poor and working class to support wars of choice initiated by the white supremacist colonial/capitalist oligarchy.  

BAP opposes war with Iran and is supporting the national mobilizations this weekend demanding No War on Iran and the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq. 

And BAP also calls on all progressive forces to join us to fight the domestic military surge, to oppose the training of U.S. police forces by the Israeli state, to struggle to shut down AFRICOM, to demand the closing of the over 800 U.S. bases worldwide, to advocate against the normalization of nuclear war, and to expose the collaboration of  self-defined "progressive and radical" forces with the U.S. war-state. 

The Trump Administration along with the Democrats are united in their objective interests, despite the impeachment charade, to support white power in the form of their imperialist agenda. But they need us – the people – as the cannon fodder and the passive supporters. 

They cannot have us. We will struggle against them, for ourselves and for humanity. 

Dr. King warned about the spiritual death of the U.S. with its addiction to war and militarism, its materialism and extreme social alienation, but he was wrong. 

The spiritual death of what became the United States occurred in 1619 when the settlers imported the first Africans and decided to expand beyond the coast of the country by force resulting in the monstrosity called the United States today.  

We who believe in freedom - in the possibilities of real democracy, of people-centered human rights, of peace and a livable planet - cannot wait. We must understand that our aspirations must be translated into concrete struggle. We must be clear: we cannot win without a sharp understanding of the forces of oppression that must be defeated. For BAP, it is obvious when we look in the mirror “while driving as Black” that the enemy is not the Iraqis, Russians, Syrians or Venezuelans.  

U.S. Out of Iraq and Afghanistan

Oppose the Trump Domestic Surge Targeting Black People

Stop the Department of Defense 1033 Program that Militarizes Police Forces

Shut Down AFRICOM and ALL U.S. and NATO bases

Cut Obscene Military Budget by 50%

YahNé, Paul, Jaribu, Vanessa, Netfa, Margaret, Brandon, Dedan and Ajamu

Black Alliance for Peace, Coordinating Committee

Statement on the 17th Anniversary of the U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan

This statement was delivered by Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) member Jose Monzon at an anti-war rally held October 7, 2018 in New York City commemorating the 17th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. The rally also demanded an end to all wars.

On behalf of the struggling Black peoples who are a part of the Black Alliance for Peace, we bring you revolutionary greetings.

We want to thank the organizers of this event for not allowing this date to pass without demonstrating people in this nation are still woke, still struggling, and still determined to defeat U.S. imperialism in all of its manifestations.

Seventeen years ago this weekend, citing the Doctrine of Self-Defense, the United States initiated a brutal war against the people of Afghanistan. And once again, the people of that nation found themselves expendable, no more than collateral damage for the Bush administration’s ideological objective of conditioning the people in the United States to support their real intention: the invasion and occupation of Iraq.  

But like so many other empires and nations that invaded Afghanistan, the United States found it could smash a government, but it could not defeat the people of that small nation who were determined to defend their national dignity.

Today, 17 years later, the United States has been defeated. But in its imperial arrogance, it is prevented from admitting that fact to itself, the people and the world—and so the suffering of the people continues.

We in the Black Alliance for Peace say that in the war that should have never been, the war has been lost!

Bring the solders out, close the U.S. bases and provide reparations to the people of that nation who have unnecessarily suffered.

But if you continue to wage war, if your greed for the over $1 trillion worth of precious metals and oil and gas deposits seduce you into believing that you can remain, we pledge today that we will return to the streets, we will continue to resist you and to stand with the people to force you out of Afghanistan, out of Yemen,  to force you out of all of the national territories where you attempt to impose your will.

End of the war in Afghanistan!

Stop the slaughter in Yemen!

Close all U.S. and NATO bases worldwide!

U.S. out of Africa and shut down AFRICOM!

Photo credit: Reuters

Join BAP to Oppose Escalation of Afghanistan War

September 6, 2017—The Black Alliance for Peace endorses the Week of Action from October 2 to October 8 to oppose the escalation of the war in Afghanistan. That week marks 16 years of U.S-led bombings and military violence in a poverty stricken nation.

See below for a statement from a coalition of anti-war organizations on how to get involved.

For media inquiries, contact Ajamu Baraka at info@blackallianceforpeace.com.

U.S. Antiwar Leaders Call for Actions to Oppose the Escalation of the Afghanistan War During the Week of the 16th Anniversary of the Invasion, October 2 - 8.  Join Us.
 

Endorse the Week of action: http://notowar.net/endorse-no-to-war-2017/

Add Your Action to the List of Actions:
http://notowar.net/post-your-action/

For more information:
http://notowar.net/

October 6, 2017 marks the 16th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan – the longest foreign war in U.S. history.

The Afghan war, which has been a thoroughly bipartisan effort, was originally railed against by Donald Trump when he was running for president. He claimed to be against U.S. troop involvement in Afghanistan. Now he is moving forward with a “secret” plan of escalation that will also include Pakistan.  He says the secrecy is to keep the “enemy” from knowing his plans, but it also keeps the U.S. people from knowing what he is doing in our name and from judging the human costs for the people of Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States

What we do know is that military escalation has repeatedly failed to bring peace in Afghanistan. It has caused more destruction and more deaths of civilians and soldiers alike and has cost trillions of dollars that could be spent on meeting basic needs here at home while repairing the destruction we have carried out abroad.

Trump also emboldens the war machine here in the US against Black and Brown people and immigrants by fanning white supremacy and xenophobia and continuing the militarization of the police and ICE to incite racially-motivated violence and justify repression, including mass incarceration and mass deportations. US wars of aggression and militarism abroad go hand-in-hand with increased state repression and militarization of the police state here at home.

Trump’s new escalation comes at a time when there is no end in sight to the continuous wars, including drone and mercenary warfare, throughout the region and when he is threatening military action against Venezuela, North Korea, Russia, Iran and other countries.

Therefore, we the undersigned antiwar leaders in the U.S. are calling for non-violent protests in cities across the country during the week of the 16th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. We appeal to all antiwar organizations in the United States and around the world to join us.

• John Amidon, Kateri Peace Conference, VFP

• Jessica Antonio, BAYAN USA

• Bahman Azad, US Peace Council

• Ajamu Baraka, Black Alliance for Peace

• Medea Benjamin, Code Pink

• Toby Blome, Code Pink, Bay Area

• Brian Becker, ANSWER Coalition

• Reece Chanault, US Labor Against the War

• Bernadette Ellorin – International League of People’s Struggle

• Sara Flounders, International Action Center

• Bruce Gagnon, Global Network Against Nuclear Power & Weapons in Space

• Larry Hamm, People’s Organization for Progress

• Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence

• Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report

• Ed Kinane, Upstate Drone Action

• Matthew Hoh – Veterans for Peace

• Joe Lombardo, United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)

• Marilyn Levin, United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)

• Judith Bello, Upstate Drone Action

• Jeff Mackler, Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal

• Alfred Marder, US Peace Council

• Maggie Martin, About Face: Veterans Against the War (formerly IVAW)

• Ray McGovern, Former CIA Analyst and Presidential Advisor

• Michael McPhearson, Veterans For Peace

• Nick Mottern, Knowdrones.com

• Malik Mujahid, Muslim Peace Coalition

• Elsa Rassbach, Code Pink & UNAC, Germany

• Bob Smith, Brandywine Peace Community

• David Swanson, World Beyond War

• Debra Sweet, World Can’t Wait

• Ann Wright, Code Pink & Veterans For Peace

• Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance

• Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance

Photo credit: U.S. Department of Defense

Black Alliance for Peace Calls on the United States to End Its War in Afghanistan

August 22, 2017—Once the Trump administration concluded its analysis of the war in Afghanistan, it had an opportunity to announce a sensible solution to the longest war in U.S. history by calling on all parties to the conflict to enter into serious discussions to create a process for national reconciliation and peace.

Instead, the administration committed the United States to an endless war in Afghanistan with no clear criterion for what the administration would define as a “win.” Moreover, by suggesting that the administration will curry favor with India—Pakistan’s bitter rival—in order for it to play a role in solving the conflict in Afghanistan amounts to a dangerous and cynical ploy that could inflame the already tense relations between the two nuclear-armed nations.

TAKE ACTION: Join BAP for the Week of Action opposing the escalation of this war.

President Donald Trump’s call for support to increase military spending was a crude and opportunistic rationalization for endless war and the squandering of the nation’s precious resources, including the lives of its young.

The policies of this administration reflect the U.S. oligarchy’s continued commitment to use military force to advance its interests throughout the world. Members of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) understand that U.S. policymakers see the continued presence of the United States in Afghanistan as a strategy to counter the growing cooperation between China and the Russian Federation on the Chinese “silk road” project.

We also know that U.S. capitalists have their eyes on newly discovered and untapped mineral reserves of iron, cobalt, copper, gold, and lithium estimated at a value of over $1 trillion. This increases Afghanistan’s value for the U.S. corporate and financial sector, which has no problem sending young people off to die for its narrow interests.

With the bipartisan vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to increase the military budget by $75 billion—a figure that represents more than the entire military budget of the Russian Federation—it is no longer accurate to characterize this grotesque proposal as Trump’s idea.

The commitment to Full Spectrum Dominance has always had bipartisan support, but Democrats and their liberal allies have been able to present its militarism as somehow more benevolent than the Republicans’. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the United States as the world’s dominant global power, the commitment to maintain U.S. hegemony and its predatory form of capitalism known as neoliberalism has always been a bipartisan objective.

Before he even ran for president, Trump questioned the wisdom of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, seeing it as a lost cause that wasted resources and lives. Now as president, Trump has a different take. Joining the last two presidents before him, he adopted the agenda of military-industrial elites who see the necessity for a permanent U.S. presence in the country, resulting in the United States and its NATO partners establishing nine permanent military bases in the country.

The United States—as part of the U.S./EU/NATO axis domination—has been responsible for unspeakable acts of violence in every part of the world, with most of the victims of U.S. state violence being the non-European peoples of the world.

In an obscene testament to U.S. vanity and the psychopathological commitment to global white supremacy, billions of dollars have already been wasted, almost three thousand U.S. lives lost and over 100,000 non-U.S. lives have been taken.

It is time to admit defeat in Afghanistan and bring the war to an end. Justice and common sense demands that the bloodletting stop.

###

For more information, contact:

Ajamu Baraka

National Organizer, Black Alliance for Peace

info@blackallianceforpeace.com

TAKE ACTION: Join BAP for the Week of Action opposing the escalation of this war.