The people of Afghanistan


photos by Steve McCurry, from book "PORTRAITS" published by Phaidon

Half the population of Afghanistan (26 million)
are children under 16 years old.

About 7.5 million are likely to starve this winter.

10% of the world's landmines are in Afghanistan.

Poll Question:
"Does bombing Afghanistan make your family
or your community safer from terrorist attacks?"

Poll Question:
"Does U.S. bombing make you feel better about
the attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.?"

Poll Question:
"Which makes America stronger:
1) $1,000.000 for a Patriot missile dropped on Afghanistan
2) $1,000,000 for a pediatric clinic in Afghanistan or U.S.A."

According to the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan,
the Northern Alliance supported by the U.S. has the
same attitude toward women as the Taliban.

Poll Question:
"Is God on our side?"

  • 'Huge Scale of Deprivation and Need' Haunts Afghan Refugees, The Observer (London) January 27, 2002-- Hunger and vengeance haunt Afghanistan's sprawling tent city: Suzanne Goldenberg reports on the huge scale of deprivation and need that makes Maslakh camp emblematic of a tortured country's suffering:

    THE OLD woman rose up out of the dust, her black chador unwinding behind her, like an apparition in slow motion, and moved towards the road. 'Food,' she wailed. 'We need food. Give us food.'

    The size of Maslakh camp and the enormousness and concentration of human suffering here hits the visitor like a physical assault. The tableau of wretchedness extends for more than three miles and one mile wide along a road cutting through the flat desert plain towards Iran, and more than half a mile back towards a towering mountain range.

    Hundreds upon hundreds of squat, mud-walled shelters extending up the slopes of the mountain, winter-proof tents for the fortunate who are receiving aid, tattered black domed tents for the nomadic Kuchi people camped here who have yet to join them, and clumps of human waste everywhere underfoot.

  • Aid packages ignore starving Afghans
  • Unicef Says Afghan Children Need Immediate Aid to Survive 12/9/01
  • 3,500 Civilians Killed in Afghanistan by U.S. Bombs: Professor's Study
  • Some of those killed by U.S. bombing
  • More bombing victims
  • First snow warns of humanitarian disaster (Dec. 4)
  • Independently verified pain
  • Millions Still Face Starvation (11/21)
  • Millions Dying of Hunger
  • Time Runs Out for Humanitarian Effort
  • Former U.N. Deputy Warns of Afghan 'Catastrophe'
  • U.N: Snow Will Block Food Shipments
  • Food Drops will not Prevent Starvation
  • Nobel Peace Prize Winning Doctors Group Calls US Afghanistan Aid 'Military Propaganda'
  • Afghanistan Fact Sheet
  • West Risks Guilt for Massive Tragedy
  • The Real Reason for this War
  • "Why the U.S. will Lose this War"
  • Peace Flags: peace is patriotic!
  • You can donate for food/medical care for Afghanis.
  • The following example of "municipal foreign policy" is being signed by thousands of Ithaca area residents and will be delivered to relevant embassies and non-governmental groups.

    Declaration of Peace

    between the people of Ithaca, New York and the people of the Middle East and Central Asia:

    We undersigned citizens of Ithaca, New York, United States, declare peace between ourselves and the peoples of the Middle East and Central Asia. We hereby commit ourselves to these acts that promote peace:

    We respect the religions, languages and music of the Middle East and Central Asia.

    We welcome visitors here from these regions. Ithaca is a refuge for Arabic and Asian peoples in the U.S. who feel threatened elsewhere. Racial hostility by citizens or officials will be challenged.

    We seek an end to all foreign military presence in the Middle East and Central Asia.

    We will rebuild our city to rely less on imported oil by creating energy-efficient housing, commerce, manufacturing, electrification, transport and food supplies.

    We will personally drive cars less and ride bikes and buses more; purchase goods made regionally; recycle more and throw less away; rely on independent non-corporate media; divert investments and tax money to peacemaking; vote for candidates who embrace the above.

    We wish you security, prosperity, democracy and peace.

    Salaam,

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