Germans Call For Troops Out Of Afghanistan

Nationwide demonstration in Berlin includes speakers from US peace movement, Afghan women

Germans Call for Troops Out of Afghanistan

Tens of thousands are expected to participate in a nationwide German demonstration in Berlin on Saturday, September 15th, calling on the German Parliament (Bundestag) not to extend the mandates for the German military (Bundeswehr) in Afghanistan. Germany presently has more than 3,000 troops in Afghanistan. Last spring, despite opposition of the majority of Germans, the German Parliament mandated sending Tornado surveillance aircraft to Afghanistan.

According to recent surveys, between 62% and 64% of Germans oppose any further German military involvement in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, there is also increasing resistance to the foreign military presence. According to an April 23, 2007, report in a leading German newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ): "Among the Pashtuns, seventy to eighty percent are against the foreign presence, and in the other half of the population, the figure is probably over fifty percent by now, as well."

Malalei Joya, a Member of the Afghan Parliament who will be coming to Berlin on September 18th, has said that the US-installed Afghan government is run by brutal leaders of the Northern Alliance, along with warlords and drug barons, and the government has not improved the situation of the people of Afghanistan. She cites the UN Human Development Index, which rates Afghanistan as number 175 out of 177 countries listed. 700 children and 50 to 70 Afghan women die every day for lack of medical care, she says, while the suicide rate among women is higher than it has ever been. Life expectancy is under 45 years, and unemployment is over 40%. Joya believes that the backlash against the foreign military presence in Afghanistan is leading to a resurgence of the Taliban, which she opposes.

There will be two separate votes in the German Parliament regarding extension of the mandates for German participation in the war in Afghanistan:

First, towards the end of September, the German Parliament will be voting on whether to extend the mandate for German participation in the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) of 37,000 troops, in which most of the more than 3000 German troops serve. ISAF recently came under NATO command and is NATO's first mission outside the Euro-Atlantic area. The vote on extending the ISAF mandate has been combined with a vote on continuation of the mandate for the controversial Tornado aircraft.

Second, on November 15th, the German Parliament will vote on whether to continue the mandate for German participation in the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), which has approximately 11,000 troops in Afghanistan. Ca. 100 German special forces troops were previously withdrawn from OEF, but an extension of the mandate could mean that Germans could again by assigned to OEF.

The newly formed Left Party (with just under 9% of the seats in the German Parliament) is calling for denial of all military mandates for Afghanistan. Germany's Green Party (also with just under 9% of the seats in the Parliament) has called for denial of the OEF mandate and will be holding a special nationwide meeting to debate extension of the ISAF/Tornado mandate, which is opposed by many Green party members. While there appears to be majority support in the German Parliament to extend the ISAF mandate for the time being, the opposition to OEF is strong even in the ruling Social Democratic and Christian Democratic parties, and some analysts believe that the mandated German participation in the US-led OEF will be defeated in November.

According to the German steering committee for the demonstration in Berlin on September 15th, which opposes extension of all German military mandates for Afghanistan, "the NATO concept of civil-military co-operation is a fundamentally false approach, because the 'civil' component is always subordinate to the military one. Different sources agree in finding that at least ten times as much is being spent on the war as for regional reconstruction, and the close 'civil-military co-operation' (CIMIC in NATO jargon) makes the civilian aid workers combatants, and therefore enemies, in the eyes of the Afghan resistance. In our view, there is no other solution than for Germany to withdraw completely from the military aspect of the Afghanistan commitment, as quickly as possible. This should be understood as a signal to other countries to withdraw their troops as well. "

The demonstration on September 15th in Berlin will begin at 12:00 in Alexanderplatz. Speakers will include Kelly Campbell of Portland, Oregon, a founding member of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows and also a member of the National Steering Committee of United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ); and Tahera Chams, a political refugee from Afghanistan who subsequently worked for the German Red Cross.

Leaders of the German peace movement will also speak, including: Dr. Andreas Buro, emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of Frankfurt and spokesman for Cooperation for Peace, a national network of peace organizations; Dr. Mohssen Massarat, Professor of Political Science and Economics at the University of Osnabrück; Dr. Peter Strutynski, Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Kassel and spokesman of the Kassel Peace Council (Friedensratschlag), a national network of German peace organizations; and Horst Schmitthenner of the Industrial Union of the Metal Industry, a leading national labor union. There will also be comment by members of some of the political parties in the German Parliament, including Oskar La Fontaine, a leader of the Left Party.

Prominent in the demonstration will be an international women's contingent made up of immigrants to Germany from 17 countries in Europe, the Middle East, the Far East, and North and South America. The women will carry a banner saying "Stop the Terror of War: Humanitarian Aid Has No Use for the Military." Members of several international women's peace organizations such as Code Pink and Women in Black are participating.

"The German peace movement's call for troops out of Afghanistan should be a wake-up call for the US peace movement to start paying attention to the US role in Afghanistan," says Kelly Campbell, a member of the steering committee of United for Peace and Justice whose brother-in-law was killed in the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon and who visited Kabul in January 2002 to meet with Afghan families who had lost loved ones in the US invasion. "The military occupation is not bringing security to Afghanistan," she says. "It is time to redirect our funds to help Afghans rebuild their country rather than funding military operations that bring further insecurity."

"Beyond the involvement of the German Bundeswehr in the war in Afghanistan, nearly 80% of the US war effort in Afghanistan and in Iraq are supplied from the huge US bases in Germany, such as Ramstein Air Base," says Elsa Rassbach, a US citizen living in Berlin who is on the steering committee for the German demonstration and also active in Code Pink and American Voices Abroad (AVA) Military Project. "A great many of the US soldiers stationed in Germany oppose these wars, and some are speaking out and resisting here under the difficult conditions of being stationed in a foreign country. At the same time, Germans are increasingly questioning whether they should continue to give the US a 'blank check' for any and all US military operations from German soil. There are thus many areas in which the US and German peace movements can cooperate."

The Canadian Peace Alliance and eighteen US war resisters in Canada have sent statements of support of the German demonstration on September 15th (see attached). The U.S. resisters will participate in the demonstrations in Canada on October 27th to end Canadian military involvement in Afghanistan.

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STATEMENT OF THE CANADIAN PEACE ALLIANCE, SEPTEMBER 12, 2007

To the German Anti-war movement

The Canadian Peace Alliance wishes the German anti-war movement all the best during your mobilizations against the war in Afghanistan this Saturday September 15th.

Our struggle is linked. Just last week the German government publicly asked Canada to keep its troops in Afghanistan. This statement by Eckart von Klaeden, Chancellor Angela Merkel's foreign-policy spokesman, is being repeated by the Government of Canada as another argument or our troops to stay. But our governments do not speak for us on this issue. We know that the majority of people in both Germany and Canada are opposed to this war.

The war in Afghanistan is getting worse day by day. The government of Canada and its NATO allies would have us believe that security and reconstruction are improving and that the battle for hearts and minds is being won by the west. The reality of the situation is much more dire. Reconstruction has been proven to be a smokescreen and the resistance to the NATO led occupation is growing. Violence increases every month that our soldiers remain in Afghanistan.

On October 28, 2006 tens of thousands of Canadians marched in more than 40 cities and towns calling for our troops to be brought home from Afghanistan. This year on October 27th we and our friends in the anti-war movement in the United States will march together in a continental wide mobilization against war.

As you march this weekend know that there are millions of people in countries like Canada who are with you in spirit and solidarity Best of luck this Saturday!

Not One More Dead

Bring the Troops Home Now!

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STATEMENT BY U.S. WAR RESISTERS IN SUPPORT OF GERMANS DEMONSTRATING THEIR OPPOSTION TO THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN

We are members of the U.S. Armed Forces who have left our posts rather than take part in the Iraq War. We have come to Canada rather than take any further part in the illegal, immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq. We come from the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps and the Air Force. Many of us have served in Iraq, others have served in Afghanistan; some of us went to Canada before being sent to one of those places.

We strongly support peace loving Germans who are demanding that their country end its involvement in the invasion of Afghanistan. We will be taking part in demonstrations here in Canada on October 27 aimed at bringing about an immediate Canadian withdrawal from Afghanistan.

We have refused to take part in the Iraq War because we know that it is a war of aggression, justified by lies, waged with cruelty. Many of us witnessed the death or wounding of our fellow soldiers, and the suffering inflicted on the Iraqi and Afghan people we were supposedly helping. Several of us have been in Afghanistan, and we have the same feelings about the war there. We have been torn apart emotionally because of we have witnessed. Some of us have nightmares; some of us have flashbacks of ugly incidents we will never forget.

Here in Canada we still have to convince the government to let us stay here permanently. In the meantime we will work for an immediate end to the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. We are in solidarity with our peace loving Germans who join us in those efforts.

The War Resisters in Canada, Including:

Jeremy Hinzman (Afghanistan, 2003) James Morriss (Afghanistan, 2006) Chuck Wiley (Arabian Sea, 2005-06) Jamie Holcomb (Arabian Sea, 2005-06) Kimberley Rivera (Iraq, 2006) Justin Colby (Iraq, 2005) Kevin Lee (Iraq, 2006) Dale Landry (Afghanistan, 2003) Dean Walcott (Iraq, 2004, 2006) Phil McDowell (Iraq 2006) Brandon Hughey (Ft. Hood, 2003-04) Ryan Johnson (Ft. Irwin, 2004-05) Joshua Key (Iraq, 2004) Erin Creagan (Ft. Carson, 2007) Linjamin Mull (Ft. Eustis, 2006) Stephen Yoczik (Ft. Gordon, 2006) Patrick Hart (Kuwait, 2005) Robert Grubbs (Ft. Drum, 2007)

And more currently en route to Canada

ENDS

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