Afghanistan is known as the “graveyard of empires.” I haven’t investigated where the Afghans earned that reputation but after almost 16 years of US-European war & unspeakable war crimes too gruesome to describe, we could only wish that were true & that they would be able to bring US military power to its knees.
But in this day & age, when the US is armed with high-tech savagery, missiles guided by racism, & no moral restraint, it isn’t likely unarmed Afghan civilians will be able to defeat the Pentagon & hired mercenaries. For that, a massive, international antiwar movement with frequent & consistent mobilizations coordinated to act as one mighty force is an absolute imperative. Just because media does not post on US-European-Australian wars, we cannot be lulled into thinking not much is going on. Thousands of air strikes take place every year mostly on civilian targets like schools, hospitals, homes, mosques, fields.
Those of my generation know building such a movement is possible because we built them for other wars, we collaborated with others around the world to march on the same day with the same demands against the same wars. Today, reactionary sections of the US antiwar movement say we can only oppose US intervention, not Russian or Iranian. That’s to cover for their support for Russian & Syrian bombing of civilians in Syria. But around the world, on every continent for generations, progressive forces understood that war & occupation are an international matter & must be opposed regardless of who drops the bombs.
War is never just another issue in a litany of injustices. It is always the preeminent issue to actively oppose.
