Chico Peace and Justice Center

A Position Paper on Afghanistan
Chico Peace and Justice Center Board of Directors
Adopted 15 April 2009

 In an effort to serve our work for peace and justice through offering information and recommending courses of action on crucial contemporary issues, the Chico Peace and Justice Center presents the following position paper, with supporting material attached, for the consideration and active response of our Chico community.

Background considerations:

Afghanistan has a three millennium history of invasion by foreign powers, none of these successful in the long run.  The United States now stands in this tradition, a country itself burdened by persistent but failing efforts at military invasion in Vietnam and Iraq in recent decades. 

The escalation of an already failing effort does not promise success, and the reluctance of other parties to increase their own military involvement registers their reading of this wasteful strategy as well.  The recommendations of military leaders, naturally, assumes that military force is the means to be applied, but the problems of Afghanistan —and there are many—are not amenable to a military solution.