Women For Afghan Women
Press Release
July 5th, 2002
Afghan-American Women Decry Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan
Unprecedented Picket Held Outside White House
WHO: Women for Afghan Women, Young Afghan World Alliance and other Afghan-American organizations and Peace groups
WHAT: Picket outside White House to Protest the Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan at the hands of the US military.
Their message will be:
No More Innocent Victims!
Send Aid NOT Bombs to Afghanistan
Support the Creation of an Afghan Victims Fund
Conduct a US Government Detailed Study of Civilian Casualties
Commit to peacekeeping troops throughout Afghanistan, not just in Kabul
WHEN: NOON to 1 PM - Friday, July 5, 2002
WHERE: White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.
(North end, across from Lafayette Park)
WASHINGTON, DC (July 5)--For the first time since the US began bombing Afghanistan last October, Afghan-American women have called for a protest against the killing of innocent civilians by the US military. Women for Afghan Women and Young Afghan World Alliance join by other peace groups will be picketing outside the White House at noon on Friday, July 5, 2001.
This past Monday, July 1, U.S. air attack killed and injured scores of civilians as they were attending a wedding celebration. Yesterday a Pentagon official dismissed the importance of keeping track of numbers of Afghan casualties.
Yesterday in Kabul, 200 protesters about half of them women in chadaris (burqas), blocked midmorning traffic. Compensation was one of the demands. "We cannot tolerate more innocent victims in our country and American bombardment of civilian targets," said Theyba one of the protest organizers in Afghanistan.
The Washington, DC protest organizer, Masuda Sultan, Program Coordinator of Women for Afghan Women said "We are joining in solidarity with our sisters in Afghanistan who are angry that civilian casualties continue to happen, even accidentally," at the hands of the US military. Sultan lost 19 extended family members when a farm near Kandahar was hit during a US strike on October 22, 2001. (Possibly by the same AC-130 gunships that hit Monday's Afghan wedding party)
The US military has been bombing Afghanistan since October of last year. Yet there is no official acknowledgment that innocent Afghan civilians have been killed or maimed in this "precision bombing" campaign. While the number of civilian casualties is unclear, estimates range from 1,000 to 4,000 people.
Masuda was initially cautiously supportive of U.S. intervention but now is disappointed that she has yet to hear an explanation or an apology directly from the Pentagon regarding her family's deaths.
Earlier this year Masuda Sultan met September 11 victim's families who visited Afghanistan as members of Peaceful Tomorrows. Upon their return Masuda joined them to lobby congress to provide compensation funds for civilian Afghan victims of US military actions.
The victims of the 9-11 tragedy have received a tremendous outpouring of compassion from the world community and help from the US government and humanitarian agencies to ease their burdens. "But what about the innocent victims in Afghanistan, the vast majority women and children, who lost their lives during the US air strikes?" said Sultan
