کور / سياسي / President Barack Obama rejection of bases

President Barack Obama rejection of bases

President Barack Obama


The White House


1600 Pennsylvania Ave.


Washington, D.C. 20500 June 15, 2011


Dear President Obama:


We are alarmed about reports that your Administration is applying pressure on the government in Kabul to accept the demand made by the US policy makers for permanent, or long term, military bases as part of the Strategic Long Term Partnership between the US and Afghanistan. The issue of bases has raised deep concerns among the Afghan people and among the neighbors of Afghanistan. The ratification of such agreement by a non-representative Loya Jirga, as similarly put together recently for other occasions , will have no credibility and acceptance by the Afghan people, while half of Afghanistan is under constant air and ground surveillance and attacks with 3,000 night raids into the homes of the Afghans during the last three months alone reported on Frontline a PBS program on May 16, 2011. The Afghan people demand an end to the war and occupation, as the American people do, and Congress supports these demands, as we do.


After ten years of devastating war against Afghanistan during which tens of thousands of Afghans have been killed and many more have been injured and made homeless, now the Afghan people are being asked to accept even longer term occupation using the unsubstantiated assumption that Afghanistan will become a “terrorist heaven”. The Afghan people have never threatened other countries and have no desire or capacity to do so. We know they simply want to rebuild their shattered lives and live free.


Mr. President, we all know that Afghanistan, its government of the time and the Afghan people were not been responsible for the tragedy of 9/11. The war against Afghanistan was illegal according to countless international law experts and continues to be against international law despite arguments to justify this war against a people among whom 92% had no idea about the terrorist attacks on the US reported in November, 2010.


We see the policy with regard to the demand for bases by some policy makers, contrary to the wishes of the American and Afghan people, and a serious miscalculation of the nature of the reaction by the Afghan people to it. The wide and deep national resistance of the last ten years that has made the full control of Afghanistan impossible will undoubtedly intensify. The chances for peace and stability will disappear and the human and monetary costs will rise commensurately. Participation of American business interests in the oil markets in the region with oil pipelines running through Afghanistan as a transit means and in the development of the rich mineral resources of Afghanistan can only take place under the full consent of the Afghan people which can only become possible with the establishment of peace. War and the use of force have not brought peace; only genuine peace negotiations meeting the expectations of the people will bring peace. We strongly hope that your Administration will reaffirm what Secretary Hilary Clinton and Special Representative Marc Grossman have publicly stated that “ the US does not want permanent bases [ or long term military stay] in Afghanistan”.


Afghanistan can and will be a good partner in peace and good relations with the US and the international community only through a peace settlement.


President Obama/ June 15, 2011/page 2



We feel the demand for permanent or long term military bases minimizes the chance for establishing peace and stability in Afghanistan and in the region.


We sincerely hope in your policy deliberations your Administration will choose the road to peace and reconciliation and reject the demand by those who want the war and occupation of Afghanistan to continue.


Sincerely yours,


( signed)


M.Siddieq Noorzoy


Members of the Islamic Peace and Reform Movement of Afghanistan


WWWW.AfghanPRM.org.


M.Siddieq Noorzoy, Ph.D., Retired Professor of Economics (US); Izatullah Mujadedi , Islamic Scholar(US) ; Sayed Hashemyan, Ph.D., Former Professor of Linguistics Kabul University, Editor, Afghanistan Mirror; Abdurrahman Ulfa, Ph.D. Fulbright Scholar ( Saudi Arabia); Fazl Ahmad Afghan, Eng. ( Canada);Aref Mohammadi, M.A. Agriculture Specialist (US); Nabi Misdaq, Ph.D. author, investigative reporter, Osman Mohmand, Eng., IT Specialist (US); Fareed Wardak,Eng., IT Specialist (US); Hamid Durani, Businessman (Afghanistan);Wahid Wahab, CEO Kobe Co. (Germany); Latif Ahmad, M.D. ( Afghanistan, Germany);Faiz Omerkhail, Eng. ( Canada); Ali Ghori, Ph.D. Professor of Mathematics, Bay Area Colleges (US); Jamal Noorzoy, Realtor (US); Bruce Richardson, Author, (US);Nasir Ahmad B.S. Eng. ( US); Farid Ahmad, M.S., Head Eng. (US); Torpekay Hadari, MA. Former Associate Professor of Literature, Kabul University; Wali Wahab, Engineer, Kobe Co. (Germany). Ahmad Zia former Afghan Army Officer (US).

C. Vice President Joe Biden


Secretary Hillary Clinton;


Senators John Kerry; Carl Levine; Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer


P.O. Box 694 Pebble Beach, Ca. 939353
Members of the Afghan community at large: