Petition to End the War in Afghanistan

The United States should leave Afghanistan now. In the ten years since the United States initiated its war of retribution against Afghanistan for an attack in which its people played no role, Americans have watched as the personal and economic tolls exacted by the conflict have increasingly escalated.

We have watched families grieve as the number of US dead has exceeded 1,800. These are our mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, wives and husbands, who have died defending the hubris of a handful of America’s leaders. We have listened in disbelief as the Department of Defense announced that, as of October 18th of this year, 14,342 additional US combat troops have been wounded.

We have tried to shield our eyes from the uncountable numbers of Afghan citizens killed, maimed, and wounded by NATO forces, insurgents, and their own army.

At home, we have read that the war will drain the US economy, already caught in a quagmire of lost jobs, foreclosed housing, and gross mismanagement of our financial institutions, of another $129 billion dollars during this year alone. We have watched in disbelief as Congress has sought to pay for this war by stripping desperately needed social services of vast amounts from their budgets.

We have learned that according to the International Red Cross incidents of violence are at a thirty year high.

We have watched it further erode an already sagging US reputation. We have watched civilians die, their land and livelihoods destroyed, and one third of their population plunged into absolute poverty as we waged a war that has accomplished nothing.

We believe that the United States and Afghanistan have suffered enough. We demand that President Barack Obama formulate a comprehensive plan to completely withdraw all American forces from Afghanistan within six months.

We, the undersigned Americans, know that the bloodshed must end now!