US veterans call for immediate end of Afghan war

U.S. veterans on Friday called for an immediate end of the War in Afghanistan and slashed both U.S. presidential candidates for their identical positions on the war. The appeal came in a strongly worded statement released by Michael Prysner, an Iraq War veteran and co-founder of March Forward, an organization of veterans and service members against war and racism. Now in its 11th year, the longest in U.S. history, the War in Afghanistan has been a failure with more than 2,000 U.S. troops being lost during President Barack Obama's term alone, Prysner said. He also noted that the American people are spending 400 million dollars a day on the war, which over 60 percent of Americans want to put an end to immediately. The Afghan people, he added, also have endured immeasurable sufferings in the war. "The White House admits we are not actually fighting al-Qaeda or even al-Qaeda's allies in Afghanistan. The people we are actually at war against are people who played no role in the attacks and admittedly pose no threat to the United States," Prysner said. "The Afghan people are not our enemies," he said. "The reason armed groups of Afghans all over the country are fighting the occupying forces is because they, like all people, do not want to live under foreign occupation." He said most Americans support an immediate, rapid withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan, which will have the same results as a slow withdrawal through 2014 but can cut deaths and casualties of U.S. troops by thousands. The veteran also lashed out at the Monday night presidential debate on foreign policy, in which the two candidates seemed to be eye to eye on the war. That gave voters no choice to change U.S. policy in Afghanistan, he said. "The presidential debate, in reality, was not for us," Prysner said. "It was for the military-industrial complex, energy companies and investors. The candidates were competing for the support of those with billions of dollars to hand over to their campaigns."