If only Obama talked to the ‘bravest woman in Afghanistan’

Image by AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

In yesterday’s press here in Montreal were two interesting items about Afghanistan.  One, President Obama vowed to “finish the job” and thereby signaled his plan to send something like 30,000 (maybe more) American soldiers to a war that is not ever going to be finished.

This depressing headline was right next to a notice that Malalai Joya, the “bravest woman in Afghanistan,” was in town to promote her new book, A Woman Among Warlords.

Joya was the youngest person elected to the Afghan parliament, but her outspoken criticism of corruption, including in the Karzai government, got her thrown out.  Since then she has had to live a life on the run, under constant death threats, never sleeping in the same place; never showing her face publicly.

Joya is quite clear that “finishing the job” in Afghanistan does not involve more war.  She believes that:

As long as foreign troops are in the country we will be fighting two enemies instead of one. Liberation was just a big lie… night raids, torture and aerial bombardment (that killed hundreds of Afghan civilians while the Taliban made steady gains).

Instead of more violence, Joya wants humanitarian aid, education, and support for democratic movements.

Obama talks to generals and they tell him “More war.”  That’s what generals do.  Their entire existence is based on the belief that war is “necessary” and “good policy.”

Obama talks with Congressional leaders, nearly all of whom rely on the military industrial complex for contributions and “good jobs” at home.

But why doesn’t Obama talk to Joya?

If only Obama had taken the time to meet with people who are not invested in war, but peace.  If only he were spending Thanksgiving with Joya, seeking council from someone who neither makes war nor relies on the profits of war.  Then perhaps Tuesday’s inevitable announcement of more troops and more war would not be looming over the holidays like an ax over the turkey’s neck.

‘Liberation was just a big lie’ – thestar.com.