Opposition to the 2001 Afghanistan War

Opposition to the 2001 Afghanistan War consisted of tens to a hundred thousand protestors in the United States and the United Kingdom. Opposition was organized by a number of groups, including the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan and internationally in the form of protests by various anti-war organisations who would go on to organise much larger protests against the 2003 Iraq War.

The invasion of Afghanistan was undertaken in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks and generally drew substantial worldwide support given the undenied connection between Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban.

Opponents of the war often claimed that the attack on Afghanistan was illegal under international law, constituted unjustified aggression and would lead to the deaths of many civilians through the bombing campaign and by preventing humanitarian aid workers from bringing food into the country. The number of Afghan casualties reportedly exceeded 5,000 people by 2002 according to an article on BBC In 2006 the conflict was still ongoing, and some reports are of a worsening security situation.

More broadly, the invasion of Afghanistan appeared to opponents to be a political stepping stone to the 2003 Iraq War, increasing the geo-political reach of the United States.

Afghan civilians' opposition to the invasion

One of the best-known organisations of Afghan women opposed to the Taliban government of Afghanistan, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), opposed the attack on Afghanistan, stating that "America, by forming an international coalition against Osama and his Taliban-collaborators and in retaliation for the 11th September terrorist attacks, has launched a vast aggression on our country", accusing the "US and its allies" of not "paying the least attention to the fate of democracy in Afghanistan", of "supporting the policy of Jehadis-fostering, Osama-fostering and Taliban-fostering," and of "sharpening the dagger of the Northern Alliance". The women of RAWA described the invasion of Afghanistan as having 'plunged our people into a horrific concern and anxiety in fear of re-experiencing the dreadful happenings of the years of the Jehadis' "emirate".'

Protests

In 2001, a number of small protests against the invasion of Afghanistan occurred in various cities and college campuses across the United States and other countries in the first days after the start of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

See also

• Protests against the invasion of Afghanistan
• Post-September 11 anti-war movement
• International public opinion on the war in Afghanistan (2001-present)
• Canadian public opinion on the war in Afghanistan

References

External links

• World opinion opposes the attack on Afghanistan, David Miller, 21 November 2001