August, 22 2017, 08:45am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Gabe Murphy
gmurphy@peaceaction.org
Jon Rainwater
jrainwater@peaceaction.org
Peace Action: No End in Sight in America's Longest War
In response to President Trump's announcement that the U.S.
WASHINGTON
In response to President Trump's announcement that the U.S. will "fight to win" in Afghanistan, alongside reports that Trump has authorized an increase of 4,000 troops in Afghanistan, Jon Rainwater, Executive Director of Peace Action, released the following statement:
"After months of deliberation or procrastination from the administration on its Afghanistan strategy, President Trump announced the continuation of the same approach that's failed for the past 16 years. Young Americans and Afghans alike have never known the meaning of peacetime, yet American leaders continue to assert a backwards logic that escalating wars will somehow help end them. History says otherwise.
"Ending the war in Afghanistan requires a comprehensive strategy to achieve a lasting political solution. Not only has Trump failed to present a robust diplomatic strategy, but in reportedly authorizing an additional 4,000 troops in Afghanistan rather than continuing to drawdown, he's managed to make the arduous but vital task of achieving a negotiated settlement even more difficult."
Peace Action is the United States' largest peace and disarmament organization with over 100,000 members and nearly 100 chapters in 34 states, works to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons, promote government spending priorities that support human needs and encourage real security through international cooperation and human rights.
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Civil liberties defenders on Thursday decried the U.S. Senate's advancement of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, which critics say lawmakers are trying to ram through without protection against warrantless surveillance and with a provision that would effectively make every American a spy whether they like it or not.
Senators voted 67-32 in favor of a cloture motion to begin voting on RISAA, a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which expires on Friday. FISA—a highly controversial law that has been abused hundreds of thousands of times—allows warrantless surveillance of non-U.S. citizens but also often sweeps up Americans' communication data in the process.
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Columbia President Minouche Shafik informed the campus community on Thursday that she had authorized the police to clear the encampment.
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