http://tompkinsagainstwar.org/2009/12/rhetoric-and-reality-masking-war-escalation-as-a-withdrawal-plan/ Web log for Tompkins County War Resisters Tue, 15 Mar 2011 17:12:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://tompkinsagainstwar.org/2009/12/rhetoric-and-reality-masking-war-escalation-as-a-withdrawal-plan/comment-page-1/#comment-3230 Argaman Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:49:59 +0000 http://tompkinsagainstwar.org/?p=2438#comment-3230 What's remarkable about this statement is that it entirely omits mention of the Taliban. The "140 armed insurgent groups" spoken of are part of the Taliban - the woman-hating, xenophobic, hosts of Al-Qaeda who are responsible for the continued killing of their fellow Afghans by suicide bombers and other methods of attack. Before the U.S. invasion women were confined to their homes, girls were forbidden to go to school, and gay men were hanged in the soccer stadium in Kabul. While my support for the continued U.S. presence is Afghanistan is ambivalent, my opposition to the Taliban and their fellow travelers is unequivocal. I think it is incumbent upon any anti-war movement worth the name to think long and hard about what will happen if the U.S. withdraws and leaves Afghanistan entirely to the Taliban. Do we really want to leave the women and girls of Afghanistan to their tender mercies? I understand that the U.S. did not invade Afghanistan for feminist reasons, but inadvertently we have become supporters of more (certainly not all) rights for women and girls. What’s remarkable about this statement is that it entirely omits mention of the Taliban. The “140 armed insurgent groups” spoken of are part of the Taliban – the woman-hating, xenophobic, hosts of Al-Qaeda who are responsible for the continued killing of their fellow Afghans by suicide bombers and other methods of attack. Before the U.S. invasion women were confined to their homes, girls were forbidden to go to school, and gay men were hanged in the soccer stadium in Kabul. While my support for the continued U.S. presence is Afghanistan is ambivalent, my opposition to the Taliban and their fellow travelers is unequivocal. I think it is incumbent upon any anti-war movement worth the name to think long and hard about what will happen if the U.S. withdraws and leaves Afghanistan entirely to the Taliban. Do we really want to leave the women and girls of Afghanistan to their tender mercies? I understand that the U.S. did not invade Afghanistan for feminist reasons, but inadvertently we have become supporters of more (certainly not all) rights for women and girls.

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