Afghanistan War, Nightmare without End for Troops, Innocent Civilians and US Taxpayers

Washington D.C. (November 23, 2010) – Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich, a leading proponent of peace, today renewed his call to end the Afghan war after it was revealed that a self-proclaimed senior Taliban negotiator working with President Hamid Karzai and NATO officials was in an imposter.

“The war in Afghanistan is taking place in a netherworld where facts and common sense have no place. Elections are fake. Our deadline to withdraw is a fake.  Now, we learn that a fake Taliban leader has been leading us to believe that NATO was facilitating high-level talks between Taliban leadership and the corrupt Afghan central government we’re propping up.  It was truly amazing that our government said we were negotiating with high-level Taliban leadership while at the same time we were stepping up air strikes to wipe them out.

“Evidence abounds that the Karzai regime in Kabul is among the most corrupt in the world.  President Karzai rules through crony capitalism.  He works to protect his cronies rather than the Afghan people. Our tax dollars are going to the Karzai family and its supporters to buy villas in Dubai. We know that our tax dollars fund both sides of the conflict.  We know that our ‘allies’ pay the enemy not to attack our troops and that they also may be bribing insurgents to attack our troops.   We also know that U.S. tax dollars fund Afghan warlords.  NATO officials have become so skilled in self-deception that a senior NATO official recently claimed that Kabul is safer for children than most western cities. Meanwhile those who continue to advocate for the war apply the dark arts of  public relations to manufacture support for a war which is neither winnable, nor moral nor sane.  It is time for Congress to start asking General Petraeus some direct questions.

“The War in Afghanistan is longer than any other war America has ever fought. It has cost U.S. taxpayers more than a trillion dollars. More than 1300 Americans have died, thousands more wounded. Countless innocent Afghan civilians have died.   “The only real thing about this war is the dead and wounded soldiers and civilians, the wasted tax dollars and the mounting evidence telling us to get out.”