Over the past several weeks, the Obama administration has been working to warm you to the idea that we will be fighting a war in Afghanistan until – at the very least – 2014.  This is as dangerous as it is ludicrous.  You and I can not let this stand.

Help me to end this war.  Your tax-deductible, year-end gift to Peace Action Education Fund (PAEF) will have a strong impact on our ability to mount political pressure on the administration to seek a cease fire and negotiate a political settlement, this is the only way we can end this war. 

The Obama administration will report on its war progress later this week.  It will likely play up the ‘success’ of its surge and downplay the irrepressible nature of the insurgency.  Our response must be swift and powerful. 

Night raids and drone attacks have been killing civilians and turning the Afghan population against the US military effort as surely as it is aiding Taliban recruitment of new fighters. 

The cost of this war, when measured only in dollars spent, is in the hundreds of billions. If our military efforts there continue to 2014 and beyond, we can expect the cost to be hundreds of billions more, draining our economy and weakening our security in the process. We need your help to organize a bolder peace movement.

The cost in lives, Afghan and American, is simply not acceptable.  Further, the US is already short-changing our service women and men in need of medical care.  Soldiers at Fort Campbell recently began to speak out, exposing military efforts to deny them medical care for post-traumatic stress disorder.  The military is trying to redeploy them instead of treating them…this shows where their priorities lie. 

If the US cannot adequately care for the service personnel already in need of medical care, how can we, in good conscience, send them back to a war that increasing numbers of Americans and Afghans oppose?

Next month, in conjunction with allies across the political spectrum, we will launch a new campaign to pressure the Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress to bring the war to an end.  We need to make clear that what little support they have left will evaporate unless they move aggressively to bring about a cease fire and a negotiated settlement. 

Your year-end, tax-deductible contribution to Peace Action Education Fund will ensure our efforts to end this war have the political power that is needed to have an impact.  I am counting on you to stand with me. 

 Yours in Peace Action,

PS: For US troops in Afghanistan, another holiday will be spent away from loved ones, fighting for their lives in support of a corrupt regime, in a war that has the support of neither the majority of Afghans nor Americans.  It’s time to stop the madness.  Your tax-deductible contribution to PAEF will help build the political pressure needed to impact the Obama administration and force an end to this war. Thank you for your generous support.