Press TV
December 27, 2014
US has come up empty in Afghanistan: Activist
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The United States has “exploited” the tragedy of the September 11, 2001 attacks to launch the so-called war on terror in Afghanistan and other Islamic countries, a peace activist in Chicago says.
“After expending vast amounts of both blood and treasure, the United States has come up empty in Afghanistan and in the entire post 9/11 world,” said Rick Rozoff, a member of Stop NATO International.
“Exploiting the tragedy of 9/11, the United States has decided to launch a series of what were called anti-terrorist operations, they’re now overseas contingency operations with the advent of the Obama administration, but they remain essentially the same thing,” Rozoff told Press TV on Thursday.
On Thursday, one week before the US combat mission in Afghanistan draws to a close, President Barack Obama hailed the official ending of America’s fighting role in Afghanistan.
“We’ve been in continuous war now for over 13 years,” Obama said. “Next week we will be ending our combat mission in Afghanistan.”
The announcement came on a Christmas Day visit to a Marine base in Kanoehe Bay, Hawaii.
The fact that Obama chose the occasion of Christmas Day, whose main message is peace, “to celebrate war should be an affront to the religious beliefs of majority of the human race,” Rozoff noted.
The war in Afghanistan, the longest conflict in US history, has brought nothing but regret and fatigue, taking the lives of over 2,300 US troops and wounding over 20,000 as well as costing US taxpayers more than $1 trillion.
Recent polls show that a great majority of Americans believe the Afghan war was not worth the cost. Only 23 percent of US soldiers say the mission has been a success.
Washington’s main objective was to wipe out the Taliban militancy, but that goal was never achieved as the insurgents regrouped in neighboring Pakistan and continue to carry out terrorist acts.
“In anyway, to try to portray this as a victory for US foreign policy is atrocious and simply inaccurate,” Rozoff said, referring to Obama’s comments.
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