Vets for Peace Rep: “U.S. Needs to Get out of Afghanistan Immediately”
From India Vision
The war in Afghanistan is immoral and illegal, says a member of the Veterans for Peace, adding "it is just making more enemies of the United States."
"The war in Afghanistan will not succeed militarily it is just making more enemies of the United States and it is immoral and illegal," Nate Goldschlag said in an interview with Press TV's U.S. Desk on Friday.
Amid increased violence and bloodshed, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has approved yet another escalation of the war in Afghanistan, this time approving another 1,400 Marines who are expected to be sent to Afghanistan within a matter of weeks.
"The war in Afghanistan is going to be bleak for the United States, more and more Afghans are being killed, more and more Americans are being killed," Goldschlag added.
"The United States needs to get out immediately from Afghanistan."
FACTS & FIGURES
The Afghanistan war was not authorized by the United Nations Security Council and many experts call it illegal under international law.
The U.S. Department of Defense employs over 112,000 "contractors" in Afghanistan including around 26,000 armed contractors who are in fact mercenaries. Thus, U.S.-employed contractors outnumber U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
The U.S. currently has around 100,000 troops in Afghanistan.
Since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, more than 34,000 Afghan civilians have been killed in the country as a result of the war.
By the end of 2010, the war had resulted in 2,281 coalition casualties, including 1,445 American deaths. U.S. fatalities in 2010 (711) accounted for nearly half of all U.S. deaths since the war began over nine years ago, according to iCasualties.
UNAMA reports that 2010 was the bloodiest year since the war began in terms of the civilian death toll.
