RAWA Statement to People of Sudbury

*Prepared for March 17th 2007 international day against the war and occupation*

The question about presence of the Canadian forces in Afghanistan can't be
viewed separate from the presence of the US in our country, so to understand our point of view, let s explain few points about the US policies in Afghanistan.

We had a critical approach to the US Afghan policies in the past 23 years
especially the recent decade mainly because it was nobody else but the US
government which created, armed and supported the criminal fundamentalist
groups in Afghanistan as well as Arab mercenaries which finally led to the
terrible tragedy of the 9/11.

And after the September 11th incident and beginning of the US bombing on
Afghanistan, they removed Taliban from power but during these years many
civilians were killed as a result of the US bombardments.

The US government helped all those dirty fundamentalist bands in the past
who are now the main obstacle towards peace, freedom and stability in
Afghanistan. Sometimes back Zalmay Khalilzad, special enjoy of Mr. Bush in
Afghanistan told "we have learned from our past mistake and will not support fundamentalists again". But actually the US government is continuing its wrong policy in our country. Now once again it is relying on the Northern Alliance who are terrorist bandits loyal to the Iranian regime and some dangerous Pakistani fundamentalist parties.

It is an open secrete today that all of these dirty Islamic terrorist bands from the NA to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda are products of the US government who has made life a torture to Afghan people and threats even the US people.

Now, the NA, the most treacherous rapists and murderers, are ruling the
country backed by the US! They are worse than the Taliban and Arab
terrorists. Today all of the key leaders of the Northern Alliance are in
power and have key positions in the government. For example Karim Khalili, a deputy of Karzai is a leader of Wahdat Party, which is a lackey of Iranian regime and butcher of ten of thousands of our innocent people. Ismael Khan, Sayyaf, Qannoni, Abdullah, Rabbani, Mujadidi, Mohaqiq and tens of other criminal fundamentalists are now in power but have changed their look and even talk about democracy and women's rights!! To know about their real nature and past crimes just go through some HRW and Amnesty International reports.

The "war on terror" toppled the Taliban regime, but it has not removed
religious fundamentalism, which is the main cause of misery for Afghan
women. In fact, by bringing the warlords back to power, the US has replaced one misogynist fundamentalist regime with another. The US doesn't know that a reactionary force can be defeated by a different force which first of all should believe in democracy.

And it is because of these fundamentalist-fostering policies of the US
government that things have not been changed to positive in our land. We are living under the shadow of drug-mafia and worse enemies of democracy and women's rights who now have learned to talk about democracy and even
secularism! Some Afghan people say, today Taliban are in power in
Afghanistan but those Taliban who have pant and tie but the same mentality!

Dear friend, our people are very much fed up with such policies and today
majority of Afghans are furious against Mr. Karzai and his American masters.

Even the Human Rights Watch wrote on Sep.27, 2006: "Warlords with records of war crimes and serious abuses during Afghanistan's civil war in the 1990s, such as parliamentarians Abdul Rabb al Rasul Sayyaf and Burhanuddin Rabbani, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, and current Vice President Karim Khalili, have been allowed to hold and misuse positions of power, to the dismay of ordinary Afghans."

"The Taliban and other anti-government groups in Afghanistan have gained
public support due to the Afghan government's failure to provide essential
security and development, and have used the presence of warlords in the
government to discredit President Karzai's administration and its
international backers."

And now on the issue of the Canadian troops:

Canadian troops and troops from some European countries are in our country
because of the pressure from the US on these governments. Though they may
have their own intentions to help Afghanistan, but as they are under the US leadership, their actions, unfortunately, benefit the US political, economic and strategic interests. This is the reason that troops belonging to other counties do not have their own identity for our people and they see all troops in the same context. Most of our people call all the troops at "Americans" they do not recognize them as being from different countries.

Our people regard the US government as a friend of our enemies. They are not regarded friends to Afghan people because in the past 3 decades they
supported those elements and groups who have cause all of the miseries,
problems and destructions in our land, and as mentioned, this policy is
still in place. The US government is not truthful for what it says. The Bush administration stresses that they came to Afghanistan to liberate our people and bring democracy, but this is rubbish, they are here for their own interests and their war with Al Qaeda and Taliban is a family war, they are punishing their yesterday's blue-eyed boys for their disobedience.
The history of the US government is full of invasion to different countries which only follow more suffering and killings. But we must clarify that we see a big difference between the US government and its people, RAWA from even its own experience has perceived how the US people are kind, compassionate and humane. They are absolutely great and wonderful!

If the Canadians and European troops really want to help Afghan people and
act contrary to the aspirations and policies of the US government, they must oppose fundamentalists-fostering policy of the US government and first of all rely on Afghan people and democratic-minded forces in our country. They must not act according to the US strategy and have their own clear line, only then our people will regard them their real friends and view them separate from the US troops.

We think the Canadian troops also fall victims of the US wrong policies. We feel really sorry to see the casualties among these troops; they may have come really with good intention to help Afghan people, but due to the above points, the results of their efforts is not felt by Afghan people.

If any government wants to play a positive role in helping Afghanistan, they must act independent from the US policies; they must prove to Afghan people that they are against both the Taliban and Al Qaeda as well as against the Northern Alliance terrorists. They must ask for the prosecution of not only Taliban leaders, but also the leaders of the NA who have committed unbelievable crimes against our nation. The real friends of Afghan people must oppose both the pro-US terrorists (NA) and anti-US terrorists (Taliban).

If the Canadian and European troops act according to their own initiatives
and plans, our people prefer them over the US troops to maintain security in Afghanistan for limited period (unlike the US that wants to have its
permanent base in Afghanistan).

We think no nation can bring liberation and democracy to another nation;
they can only help our people to fight their enemies. The US has nourished
such dirty and powerful warlords in our country who have threatened the
stability of our country, if the US stops its support, these warlords will
not be in a position to impose their fascism on our people.

If Canadians and Europeans come with their own initiatives without acting
under the US agenda, they will definitely feel the support and sympathies of Afghan people, but unfortunately today, they are treated the same as the US troops and mostly people see no difference between forces of different countries present in Afghanistan, because they have not done anything tangible so people threat them differently.

To your question, yes, we are in favor of pull out of not only Canadian but all the troops belonging to other counties including the US. We fully agree with you, that these troops make things worse for Afghan people and all of them, without any exception, are their to serve the regional strategies and interests of the US govt. a not to help Afghan people at all.

We believe that if these troops pull out with the following 2 conditions,
the situation of Afghanistan will become much better than now and the way
for a real democratic movement will be opened which is now suppressed:

- First they must remove the warlords and fundamentalist leaders from power and disarm them. The US brought them to power, provided millions of $ to them and supported them generously, now if they really want a peaceful Afghanistan these enemies of justice and democracy must be pushed back from power and even some of their top leaders should be handed over to international criminal court to be prosecuted for their heinous crimes.

- Secondly, a mechanism should be implemented to ensure that the neighboring countries like Pakistan, Iran, Russia etc. will not continue their middling in the internal affairs of Afghanistan and the US must put pressure on Pakistan not to support Taliban.

Dear Friend, sorry for going into such details, hope you can understand our points and concerns regarding Canadian troops from the above explanations.

Please also read the following speech of a RAWA member for the details of
the above points: http://www.rawa.org/zoya_oct7-06.htm