An Irish viewpoint.

By Marnie Holborow

In Europe and the US, more people are asking why there are troops in Afghanistan (and Pakistan). It costs Britain's £4.5bn a year. It will cost the US $2.4 trillion, or nearly $8,000 per person, over the next decade. Amid unemployment and cutbacks, these figures are an obscenity.

Within Afghanistan, support for the foreign troops is dwindling. Only 32% - down from 68% in 2005 – support the way the US is conducting the war.

SURGE

The number of civilian deaths vary from 6,300 to 23,600. On just one day in May this year, U.S. bombs killed 140 people. And there have been over 1100 coalition soldiers killed. More British soldiers have now been killed in Afghanistan than in Iraq.

Despite this, Western forces continue to support the invasion and occupation. By the end of the year, some 30,000 American soldiers will be added to the 32,000 already there. The White House also wants to give Pakistan nearly $1.5 billion in ‘aid’, plus $400 million in fresh military assistance.

Europe is also deeply involved. It is the first operation outside Europe carried out by a newly-expanded NATO. International Security Assistance Force troops working under NATO command has 61,000 personnel from 42 different countries, including Ireland. Ireland is offering its services, ominously, for “counter-intelligence” activities.

The effects of the occupation, bombing civilians and villages, have swelled support for the Taliban. The Talliban now is stronger than at any time since the invasion.

WOMEN SUFFER

One of the main reasons given to combat the Taliban is their attacks on women’s rights. Yet the UN says that conditions for women are little better now than under the Taliban.

Rangina Hamidi, a women's rights and peace activist in Kandahar said the ongoing conflict was the main cause of the rise in violence against women in the public and private spheres.

TROOPS OUT

NATO generals warn that the conflict will worsen this year. Resistance has driven the foreign occupiers out – first the West and then the Russians. Those who resist the invasion today – and the Taliban includes many who just want the occupation to end - have history on their side.

Ireland should offer no support to the NATO led troops. At home, we will see our politicians line up to force us to accept the Lisbon Treaty including its military provisions which draw us ever closer to NATO-EU cooperation. The bloody war in Afghanistan is what this kind of support means and we should have no truck with it.