US Marine Corps Veteran, Sgt. Devon stated: "Further troops in Afghanistan is going to escalate the violence, it's going to escalate the Taliban recruiting effort and its certainly not going to create a better situation."
The very drone attacks to be expanded with the additional money have killed hundreds of civilians in 2008 alone, are widely condemned across the spectrum of Pakistani society, and believed to increase militancy by fanning anti-American sentiment and anger at Pakistan's government.
According to Imran Khan, Pakistan politician and Chairman of the Tehreek-e-Insaaf (Movement for Justice) Party: "To win a war against terrorism, the people amongst whom the terrorists are operating must think they are terrorists." Drone attacks on civilians and the presence of foreign troops increase the appeal of the militants, as Khan says: "unless NATO forces withdraw, there can be no chance of peace - because everyone (from) Alexander to the British to the Soviets; whenever anyone has invaded the Pushtuns they have fought them with full force - someone else attacks them and then they unite against the invader - this is Pushtun nationalism."
Greg Mortenson, who for 17 years has been building and running hundreds of schools, mainly for girls, in Northwestern Pakistan and Afghanistan, including in Taliban-controlled areas, is skeptical of a troop surge that was decided upon without public debate and congressional hearings in the United States or any consultation with local Afghan Shuras or councils of elders. In his experience, these are the "real people with integrity and power in Afghanistan." Mortenson believes the alternative, engaging Afghans in a dialogue at the local, regional or domestic level is more sustainable. "I think half of diplomacy is just showing up," Mortenson told Bill Moyers, "you have to start to talk and then maybe we can get somewhere."
U.N. investigator Philip Alston - who has called on the United States to reveal who was being targeted in the drone attacks in Pakistan and list the casualties - said, "The whole program is so secretive that we have very little information to evaluate whether the United States is honoring its obligations under the Geneva convention," citing requirements to target only combatants and avoid civilian casualties and other rules of war under international law.
THE PEACE MOVEMENT'S PROPOSAL FOR ACHIEVING PEACE IN AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN
- A variety of approaches are needed. The mainstay is diplomacy and dialogue. Any policing and military operations should be carried out by Afghans and Pakistanis, with help from UN Peace-keeping forces who have the multicultural understanding and experience.
- Move Afghans away from opium dependency by providing humanitarian and developmental assistance, and diversifying the Afghan economy.
- Insist on and assist with cutting corruption and the siphoning of funds by government officials and foreign contractors, ensuring development money reaches the Afghan people.
- Focus funding on well-run development projects spear-headed by and employing Afghans.
- Engage in a multifaceted regional, intra-Afghanistan, and intra-Pakistan dialogue to build a strategy with ownership and support amongst the people of the region.
- Convey a clear intention to withdraw foreign troops and increase Afghans control over their country
- To gain credibility, the withdrawal promise needs to be coupled with confidence building measures such as halting the expansion of military infrastructure and ending the drone attacks.
- Acknowledge that the real reason the U.S. invaded Afghanistan was to control the area so that a gas and oil pipeline could be built from countries along the Caspian Sea through friendly territory, feeding our reliance on fossil fuels and preventing us from moving to a clean energy economy. Such an invasion is both illegal and doomed to failure. The Russians, over a longer period of time and with many more troops than the United States, were unable to conquer and control Afghanistan. The British also failed. We must learn from history and leave Afghanistan to the Afghan people.
A plan based on diplomacy and dialogue among all parties in the region will cost American taxpayers a fraction of what the continued military occupation and drone attacks will. If this approach is not taken the result will be, as Senator Joseph Lieberman, a key supporter of the troop surge said, that Afghanistan and the U.S. "are linked for generations to come."
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