On Sunday, October 25th, Zoya, a member of the radical underground organization Rawa, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, will speak at the SF Friends Meeting House, 65 9th Street. Zoya talk is part of national tour in the U.S. against the ongoing U.S. occupation of Afghanistan and the threat of fundamentalism posed by the Taliban. In a message to Obama and Congress she says: “liberation can only come from within – end the US occupation.”

Zoya was a child during the Soviet invasion of her country. As a teenager, the mujahideen or warlords killed her activist parents. She fled with her grandmother to a refugee camp in neighboring Pakistan but later returned to her country to document life under the Taliban rule. She has been an outspoken critic of the US and NATO invasion of Afghanistan.

For more than thirty years RAWA has organized inside Afghanistan and in the refugee camps of Pakistan for a nation free of war and fundamentalism, that respects women’s rights and human rights. As President Obama prepares to widen the war and commit more troops, it is important to hear from those most affected.

Read More | UPDATE: Audio from 10/25

Voices from Afghanistan: Afghan Women's Activist Zoya Speaks Out on Eight Years of Occupation | RAWA.org: Afghan Activist Calls for End to US Occupation Interview with Zoya, member of RAWA

On March 30th, 2009, in response to President Obama's Mar. 27th announcement of an escalation of the war in Afghanistan, an emergency action was called in front of the San Francisco Federal Reserve at 101 Market Street. About two dozen demonstrators displayed banners at the busy intersection of Market and Main Street, drew small crowds with the bullhorn, passed out literature, and engaged interested onlookers in conversation. The banners protested the escalation of the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, decried the notion of Obama's "good war," and called for the complete withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. Participating organizations included CodePink, Cindy Sheehan, War and Law League (WALL), and World Can't Wait.

Video | Photos | CodePink | War and Law League | World Can't Wait

On March 25th, Juan Cole reported that "The Obama administration is so discouraged by the poor performance of the government of Afghan president Hamid Karzai that it is contemplating appointing a prime minister who would do the serious work that Karzai appears to avoid. The plan raises questions of constitutionality in Afghan law, and has a "great man theory" that what is wrong with Afghanistan is personalistic and could be fixed with a new executive officer." India, Iran and Russia are worried this hostility to Hamid Karzai and the U.S. pledge to negotiate with moderate Taliban, might deliver Afghanistan into the arms of a "Taliban lite" government.

U.S. predator drone strikes on Pakistan are increasing hatred of the US in Pakistan and the hatred is helping to unite Taliban supporters. Months after closing ranks and grouping under one umbrella council, the Taliban in Pakistan is now being asked to direct attacks towards neighboring Afghanistan to help counter an American military buildup. "Mullah Omer has strictly directed the newly formed militants' body not to attack Pakistani troops and concentrate on activities against foreign troops operating in Afghanistan," a senior intelligence official told IslamOnline.net.

Obama Plan for Afghanistan Flawed | US Drone Kills 10; Mahsud Threatens DC | Afghanistan is America’s Second Vietnam | World Reactions to Obama Plan for Afghanistan | DN: Afghans Urge Obama to Send Aid, Not Troops to Afghanistan

In at least five separate incidents during July alone, U.S.-led NATO forces have killed as many as 132 civilians in Afghanistan. The worst of the five attacks took place in the Deh Bala district of the Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, when a U.S. air strike killed 47 civilians on July 6th. Another air strike killed up to 22 Afghani civilians on July 4th, when missiles from U.S. helicopters struck civilians in Kunar. Nine more Afghani civilians were killed in the province of Farah on July 15. In a fourth civilian killing, up to 50 civilians died and at least seven more were wounded in the western province of Herat. The fifth and most recent attack occurred on July 20th, when at least four Afghani civilians were killed.

These latest attacks come on the heels of a trip to the Bagram and Jalalabad air bases by the leading US Presidential contender, Senator Barak Obama, in which he reiterated his long-held policy plans to increase the U.S. troop presence in the country by up to 10,000 more soldiers. "This is a war we have to win," proclaimed Obama, during his highly publicized and ongoing international trip.

The presumptive Republican nominee for President, Senator John McCain, has also proposed troop increases in Afghanistan by pledging at least three more brigades to the already 34,000 U.S. troops. Roughly half of the total number of foreign troops are currently comprised of U.S. soldiers. Since neither candidate has any plans or proposals for an immediate or phased-in withdrawal from the country, it is probable that without anti-war resistance in the U.S. and abroad, the U.S.-led occupation will continue through the next term of the Presidency until 2013.

The flurry of air strikes are part of a planned and ongoing offensive that has resulted in at least one official investigation that was called for by Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, a strong supporter and ally of the Bush administration, who also met with Senator Obama during his visit this past weekend. Democracy Now! reported that the latest air offensive is the most intense seen in Afghanistan since 2003. U.S.-led forces have occupied the beleaguered, oil-rich nation since 2001.

Civilian Death Toll Continues to Rise by Heightened U.S. Air Strikes in Afghanistan | US to investigate air strike that killed 47 Afghan civilians | Afghan wedding party killed in a second air strike over three days l Civilian deaths in Afghanistan soars: Red Cross l airstrikes kill 50 civilians in Herat l AFGHANISTAN: Afghan paper warns of new resistance front unless civilian casualties stop l Photos of Civlian Dead

On March 4th, US troops killed 16 Afghan civilians after they opened fire following a car bomb attack on their convoy. Eyewitnesses to the incident and some Afghan officials described the US troops firing indiscriminately at civilians in their vehicles and on foot in angry retaliation for the attack. Hundreds of Afghans protested at the scene of the killings, blocking the main road between Kabul and the Pakistan border.

A freelance photographer, Rahmat Gul, working for the AP and a cameraman working for AP Television News said a U.S. soldier forcibly deleted their photos and video showing a four-wheel drive vehicle in which three people were shot to death about 100 yards from the suicide bombing. Khanwali Kamran, a reporter for the Afghan channel Ariana Television, said the American soldiers also deleted his footage and told him that if it is aired "You will face problems". Taqiullah Taqi, a reporter for Afghanistan's largest television station, Tolo TV, said Americans told him 'delete them, or we will delete you."

On March 5th, 9 additional Afghan civilians were killed in a NATO bombing raid in Kapisa province. The nine dead civilians included five women and three children.

US troops kill Afghan civilians | Highway massacre sparks anti-US protests in Afghanistan | More civilians die in Afghanistan | US seizes Afghan shooting footage

In recent months, the escalating violence in Afghanistan has begun creeping back into the headlines. Most of the stories have focused on the resurgence of the Taliban and the accompanying suicide bombings, assassinations of Afghan politicians, and deaths of US and NATO soldiers. Much of the blame has been placed on insufficient coalition troop levels, the under-paid and under-trained Afghan National Army, and anger in the Muslim world regarding Iraq. Unfortunately, the gross mismanagement, epidemic corruption, and massive failures of the US-led reconstruction of Afghanistan have been mostly ignored.

In her recent 30-page Corpwatch investigative report, "Afghanistan Inc.", Fariba Nawa proves that "war profiteering" is an accurate term to describe the behavior of many of the corporations contracted with rebuilding her home country. Fariba's family fled Afghanistan to settle in Fremont, CA's "Little Kabul" neighborhood in 1980's, but she moved back to the real Kabul in 2004 to report on the reconstruction and Afghanistan's booming opium trade. Although "Afghanistan Inc." details the facts and figures of corporate corruption, it also tells the Afghan people's hope and eventual disappointment. According to Fariba, the vast majority of the Afghans were overjoyed with the prospects of peace and prosperity following the US's ouster of the violent, repressive Taliban. In the five years since, the continuing lack of power and water, crumbling roads and buildings, and lack of new schools and health facilities has transformed much of this gratitude into aggravated cynicism and even hostility. A few days after 9/11 (2006), Liam O'Donoghue of Faultlines spoke with Fariba about life in Kabul, the Taliban, and her predictions for the future of her war-torn homeland. Read Interview | Afghanistan, Inc.: A CorpWatch Investigative Report

On August 17th, 2006, a US warplane dropped a bomb on a police convoy in Eastern Afghanistan killing least twelve Afghan policemen. On July 31st, NATO pilots killed 13 Afghan civilians, including nine children, during an attack close to the British base at Musa Kala in Helmand province.

July 2006 was officially the bloodiest month in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion of the country in November 2001. It is estimated that between January and August at least 1,700 people were killed in fighting across the country. The death toll was a result of operations by foreign troops—involving heavy air bombardment of villages mainly in the south—and attacks by insurgent guerrillas, armed drug barons and Taliban fighters.

Violence sweeps across Afghanistan | Attacks on Afghan schools rise | 'Many killed' by Afghan car bomb | Taliban's terror tactics reconquer Afghanistan | Afghan violence 'leaves 22 dead' | Taliban take two Afghan towns | Blast at Afghan government office kills two

John Chuckman writes for Counterpunch: "Although American military destruction in Afghanistan appears to have been less than in Iraq, this largely reflects the fact that there was little infrastructure in Afghanistan to start with, especially when compared with what existed in Iraq, once the Arab world's most advanced country. Still, relative terms are what count here, and destruction in Afghanistan was considerable. Now that the financial costs of the two wars and the instability and risk of the occupations have proved much greater than anticipated, Bush is not able to execute even rushed, poorly-made plans for reconstruction."
Afghanistan’s capital is facing an acute electricity shortage that officials say will only get worse in winter as US financial support for its power-generating plants is being scaled back. In the heat of summer there are only a few hours of city power each day with most offices and homes relying on fuel-guzzling generators for their electricity needs.
In Northern Afghanistan, farmers are selling off their animals and trekking to other areas due to the worst drought in five years.

In July, a British and Canadian-led NATO force officially took control of the south of the country. British troops in Afghanistan soon undertook their biggest operation since the fall of the Taleban. Three hundred soldiers - backed by hundreds of American and Canadian troops - took control of Sangin in the southern province of Helmand.
The United States general in charge of training Afghanistan's army has said it will be three more years before it is ready. The US-trained Afghan army is supposed to take over the security responsibilities now carried out by foreign troops.

Canada to press ahead with Afghanistan intervention despite mounting casualties | Australian government to deploy 150 extra troops to Afghanistan | UK sends more troops to southern Afghanistan as fighting escalates | Deployed to Afghanistan's 'Hell' | Rebuilding Afghanistan: From Sun Up to Can't Stop | Canada engaged in colonial intervention in Afghanistan | Afghan Struggle Could Last for Years: Has West the Will to Fight? | Coalition troops retake Afghan towns | Britain to put in more troops as attacks mount

Escalating attacks by the Taliban and other armed groups on teachers, students and schools in Afghanistan are shutting down schools and depriving another generation of an education, Human Rights Watch has said in a new report. Schools for girls have been hit particularly hard, threatening to undo advances in education since the Taliban’s ouster in 2001.
The Afghan government has also alarmed human rights groups by approving a plan to reintroduce a Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the body which the Taliban used to enforce its extreme religious doctrine.Under the Taliban the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice became notorious for its brutal imposition of the Taliban's codes of behaviour.

Taliban use beheadings and beatings to keep Afghanistan's schools closed | Afghanistan to deport Christian group

May 29th, 2006: US forces opened fire on thousands of Afghans protesting a fatal traffic incident involving a US convoy. The incident sent hundreds of men rampaging through the streets of Kabul, hurling stones at the US convoy and smashing vehicle windows. Afghan police also opened fire when they came to the assistance of the US troops. Altogether 14 people died and over 100 were wounded.

May 25th, 2006: As many as 350 people have been killed this past week in Afghanistan in an explosion of violence, the most severe since the US invasion in October 2001. On Monday, U.S. A-10 fighter jets and Apache helicopter gunships bombed homes in the village of Azizi, west of Kandahar. The air strikes, which lasted for hours, killed about 100 people including as many as 30 civilians. More than 3,000 civilians have fled their homes in southern Afghanistan over US assaults and Taliban attacks. The increase in fighting comes just two months before the United States is scheduled to hand over command of southern Afghanistan to NATO forces. Fighting has greatly increased in southern Afghanistan as the Taliban have moved out of the mountains and seized large areas of the region.
US air strike on Taliban kills Afghan civilians | US-led attack kills 76 in Afghanistan | Afghanistan gripped by worst fighting since 2001 | Afghanistan sees violence upsurge | Fighting on Afghan Time: The Other War Heats Up | Taleban Call the Shots in Ghazni | More than 40 die in Afghan clash | Eric Margolis: Myths About Afghanistan | Another War Bush Can't Win: The Fifth Afghan War

A law and order vacuum has allowed an increasingly well-organised drugs cartel, a corrupt local government and resurgent Taliban to structure the poppy cultivation of the province as never before. Country-wide it is now clear the poppy harvest will be close to record levels again. Warlordism and a revived poppy trade are intertwined with the problems in the south. The small Taliban revival is being funded by opium and heroin. Half of Afghanistan's GDP is probably from the drug trade and some of the recent clashes may be in reaction to poppy eradication campaigns, which are deeply unpopular with farmers, who are seldom properly compensated.
Afghan poppy farmers expect record opium crop and the Taliban will reap the rewards | Opium wars | Between Opium and Taliban

While the US celeberated last years Parliamentary Elections as a success, the new government consists largely of factions tied to warlords from Afghan's previous civil wars.
The official Afghan Army is headed by Abdul Rashid Dostum and much of the recent fighting in the south of the country has been between forces loyal to him and groups he claims to be the Taliban. Dostum fought alongside the Soviet-backed government in the 1980 and later allied himself at various times with Ahmed Shah Massoud, Hekmatyar, and even the Taleban. Dostum has been accused of numerous human rights abuses and human rights groups have demanded that he and others be brought to trial for their actions during the civil war years.
The most radical and powerful of Afghanistan’s Islamic movements, Hezb-e-Islam, is now an officially recognised political party which claims to be one of the largest blocs in parliament. Party leaders say they are poised to sweep to power in future elections now that they are able to campaign openly. Hezb-e-Islam was founded by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. In early May 2006, Hekmatyar appeared on Al Jazeera, pledging his allegiance to Bin Laden. Back in the 1980s, Hekmatyar was supported strongly by the Reagan administration and received on the order of a billion dollars from the CIA to fight the Soviets. In the 1990s, he became "prime minister" but fell out with "President" Burhan al-Din Rabbani, and the two of them fought a war over Kabul that killed thousands and destroyed much of the city. Hezb-e-Islam now claims to have broken ties with Hekmatyar, but connections may still exist.
The “Miracle” or a Mockery of Afghanistan? | Afghanistan's new militant alliances | Hekmatyar goes Al-Qaeda | Have Hekmatyar’s Radicals Reformed? | The General and the Taleban

Afghans voted in national assembly and provincial elections Sunday, September 18. The ballot resulted in the election of powerful warlords -- several of whom joined President Hamid Karzai's government. Many of these warlords have been condemned for their abuse of power and human rights violations.

Mehmooda Shekiba from RAWA writes:
Different kinds of rigging were so blatant that even pro-government and pro-fundamentalist papers couldn’t help but to hint at them. In many districts no women could participate in the elections due to security problems. Nevertheless thousands of votes of the women were somehow managed to be cast into the ballot boxes.... In Kunduz province, 260,000 votes were cast, but 6,000 of them were excluded in favor of a pro-fundamentalist candidate.
...
It is not difficult to predict what will be the result of the “miracle” election about which you take comfort. A parliament filled with the most cruel, misogynist, anti-democracy, and reactionary fundamentalists headed by such disgusting drug traders as Sayyaf, Qanoni, Rabbani, Mohaqqiq, Pairam Qul, Hazrat Ali, and their likes. These U.S. backed religious fascists will never “spread democracy”, but rather try to “legitimate” and perpetuate their bloody domination on our people by sitting in the legislature as “lawmakers”.

Fragmented Parliament | As Afghans count votes, Karzai queries US tactics | A Mockery Of Democracy | Entrenching Warlord Rule? | Puzzle Of The Stay-Away Voters | Afghanistan's Elections: Much Ado About Nothing

Parliamentary election in Afghanistan are scheduled to take place on September 18th, 2005. There are many concerns about fraud and threats to women running for office. With warlords controlling most parts of the country and little centralized control, international monitoring is likely to focus solely on Kabul with almost no real of chance of free and fair voting in the rest of the country. NATO is planning on boosting troop levels ahead of the polls as is the US military.

While largely forgotten by the world's media as the US went into Iraq, the war in Afghanistan has been getting more violent. Even with fewer US troops in the country than in previous years, US casualties in the first six months of 2005 were greater than the total during any previous year of the war. Tactics such as Roadside bombs and even sectarian suicide attacks against mosques show that Afghan fighters are learning from the conflict in Iraq.

Hundreds of soldiers have deserted the Afghan National Army complaining of poor conditions and fierce resistance. There are signs that the Taleban is again gaining strength and violence against women is on the rise. On June 18th, the main government building in Mian Nishin was taken by the Taliban after a night-time attack; during the attack 18 police were taken hostage. On June 28th, the Taleban have shot down a US Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan's eastern province of Konar killing 16 US soliders. On July 16th, Malik Agha, a supporter of President Hamid Karzai, was abducted by the Taleban and found hanged shortly later.
Manufacturing Afghan nationalism | Many killed in Afghan fighting

8/21/2005: Four US soldiers were killed and three wounded by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan.

8/18/2005: Two U.S. soldiers were killed when a homemade bomb hit an American convoy supporting crews improving a road from the main southern city of Kandahar to outlying mountains. A U.S. Marine was killed during battles with militants in eastern Afghanistan. Read More

7/26/2005: Nearly 2,000 Afghans protested Tuesday outside the US air base in Bagram, north of the Afghan capital, Kabul. Chanting “Die America!” the crowd threw stones and tried to break down an outer gate to the base, demanding the release of eight detained villagers. Read More

5/13/2005: At least nine more people - five civilians and four policemen - have been killed in a fourth day of anti-US protests in Afghanistan, officials say. The protests and violence appear to be spreading with reports of disturbances coming from across the country. Read More

5/12/2005: Three protesters will killed as police fired on hundreds of anti-U.S. demonstrators in the town of Khogyani to prevent them from departing toward Jalalabad. In Kabul, more than 200 young men marched from a dormitory block near Kabul University chanting "Death to America!" and carrying banners. Read More

On May 10th 2005 anti-American riots broke out across Afghanistan in response to reports of US use of religion in the humiliation of Afghan prisoners. More than 5000 people took to the streets of Jalalabad. Four Afghan protesters were killed when police opened fire on the crowd and the crowd responded by burning down a governor's office and attacking several UN buildings. There were also protests in the south-eastern city of Khost, and in Laghman province.

The immediate cause of the riots was an article in Newsweek magazine that said investigators probing abuses at Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba had discovered that interrogators "had placed Korans on toilets, and in at least one case flushed a holy book down the toilet". Over the past few months reports have revealed a pattern of sexual humiliation and torture of Afghan prisoners. In his new book "Inside the Wire", Army Sergeant Erik Saar (NPR interview) reveals details of what he saw while he was working at the Guantanamo camp. "One of the most disturbing interrogations Sgt Saar says he saw in his six months at the prison concerned a female interrogator ... He tells how she began peeling off her clothes, taunting the man sexually in an attempt to shame him and stop him relying on his faith for support ... When the interrogator wiped what he thought was menstrual blood on his face, the prisoner raged, almost breaking free from his handcuffs. [the interrogator] taunted him further ... asking whether Allah would be pleased with him and telling him to have fun trying to pray. Finally the detainee was returned to his cell without water, leaving him unable to cleanse himself."

Anger at the US and government of Hamid Karzai has been on the rise for several months. On March 26th four US soldiers were killed in a mine blast southwest of Kabul. On March 29th, a powerful blast ripped through a car near the provincial governor's office in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. On April 2nd, suspected Taliban fighters ambushed a convoy of civilian trucks carrying vehicles to the US military in southern Afghanistan, killing eight of the drivers. On April 6th, a US helicopter crashed in south-eastern Afghanistan killing 16 people, at least four of them American crew. On April 8th Taleban fighters killed five policemen on a main road in the Nawarak area of Zabul province. On April 26th, suspected Taliban fighters ambushed a police convoy in southern Afghanistan, killing four officers and abducting two others. On May 4th nine Afghan soldiers were killed in an ambush by militants in the southern province of Kandahar, as 50 died in 3 days of fighting. On May 7th two people were killed and five wounded when a hand grenade exploded in an internet cafe in central Kabul. On May 9th, two US marines were killed in a battle in eastern Afghanistan in which up to 23 militants are also thought to have died.

Anger at the US over treatment of prisoners and conflicts over Afghanistans huge opium trade, have been compounded by the recently announced push for permanent US bases in the country.

Democracy Now: Afghanistan 3 1/2 Years After the U.S. Invasion | UN Human Rights Investigator in Afghanistan Ousted Under U.S. Pressure | Afghanistan: When Cops Become Robbers