NEW YORK CITY - March 3 - U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has called it "a long slog." Richard Holbrooke, Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, has called it "much tougher than Iraq." But what do Afghan- and Pakistani-American women here think of escalating war in Afghanistan, and what Americans can do?

WHAT: Discussion among NYC-area Afghan women, students and New Yorkers on troop escalation in Afghanistan; film screening and concert
WHEN: 1 p.m. (film screening and discussion), 4:30 p.m. (concert), Sunday, March 8
WHERE: Greenburg Lounge, Vanderbilt Hall, NYU Law School (film & discussion)               
Eisner Lubin Hall, NYU Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South (concert)

Local Afghan- and Pakistani-American women, students and members of the women's group CODEPINK NYC will debate these challenging questions March 8 here, especially in light of President Obama's commitment to 17,000 additional troops there by spring, following a screening of the feature documentary "Afghan Women: A History of Struggle." The film chronicles the role of Afghan women in the past 25 years of war and occupation in the mountainous country.

Author and professor Fawzia Afzal-Khan and Fahima Vorgetts, of the New York non-profit Women for Afghan Women will join the film's award-winning producer Kathleen Foster  and each offer her own perspective based on personal experiences, extensive research and interviews with other Afghan women. They will discuss Obama's recent decision to send 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, concern of strengthening Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces, and the effect of occupation on Afghan women.

Foster, whose photos have appeared in the New York Times, Time magazine and more, began filming and creating documentaries about 20 years ago. Afzal-Khan has authored numerous books including "Shattering The Stereotypes: Muslim Women Speak Out." Vorgetts, a former chemist, Afghan immigrant and longtime human rights activist, is a board member of Women for Afghan Women, an organization of Afghan and non-Afghan women from the New York area committed to ensuring the human rights of Afghan women worldwide.

Following the film, the internationally acclaimed Middle Eastern folk ensemble NOUR will perform a benefit concert for Doctors Without Borders and CODEPINK NYC in Eisner Lubin Hall in NYU's Kimmel Center.

The event, organized by CODEPINK NYC and co-sponsored by New York University Law Students for Human Rights, and NYU Law Students for Reproductive Justice, and NYU Law Women, is one of 270 events held worldwide March 8 to celebrate International Women's Day, designated by the United Nations.

For more information or interviews, please call Jean Stevens, national media coordinator, at 508-769-2138 or jean@codepinkalert.org.