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Last Updated on August 3, 2021.

WASHINGTON — Win Without War Policy Director Kate Kizer released the following statement regarding today’s comments by the Biden administration on the ongoing withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan:

“Ending the U.S. occupation and withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan is the right decision today, the right decision a year ago, and the right decision 10 years ago. Two decades of U.S. war and occupation did not and will not bring peace to Afghanistan. The recent uptick in violence does not change that, but rather makes robust, coordinated diplomacy to deescalate the situation all the more urgent.

“For twenty years, the United States has been at war in Afghanistan. For twenty years, proponents of endless war have claimed that if we could just stay a little longer, if we could only drop a few more bombs, we may finally ‘win.’ But twenty years of experience have proven that to be an utter fallacy. And twenty years of experience have proven to people in the United States – across party lines, generations, and communities – that endless war is not the solution, but the problem. 

“There is simply no military solution to what is now a four decades-long conflict and the president’s follow through on his promise to withdraw reflects that reality. Diplomatic negotiations, transitional justice, and peacebuilding are the only tools that will bring us any closer to peace in Afghanistan.”

 

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Win Without War is a diverse network of activists and national organizations working for progressive foreign policy in the United States.

July 8, 2021