KATHY KELLY
JOSHUA BROLLIER
Kelly and Brollier are with the group Voices for Creative Nonviolence. They are just back from over a month in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Several articles they have written are on the group’s web page.

Kelly said today: “As violence escalates and the war prolongs, the question isn’t what does the U.S. want. It’s what do people in Afghanistan want. There’s real fear of the Taliban, but people ask why the U.S. invaders and their warlord clients should run the country. There are an estimated 850 children dying every day (see Save the Children). Meanwhile, we’re spending $1 million per year just to deploy one soldier.”

Brollier said today: “There are serious consequences of these military operations which the U.S. urges Pakistan to undertake. Last year, in the Swat Valley, 2 million people were made refugees in ten days. There are still people living in refugee camps who are now destitute. The Pakistani military continues to occupy homes in areas where people were forced to abandon their villages. Most people we talked to were upset with the U.S. Many feel Pakistan is being pushed into destructive blunders by the U.S. — they face the retaliatory backlash from the military offensives that the U.S. insists Pakistan must wage, ostensibly to dislodge Taliban groups.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167