WAS MY SON’S DEATH IN AFGHANISTAN A PRICE WORTH PAYING?

Six British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan in the last
ten days. The father of one of them asked in an article in the
Independent if his son’s death had been "a price worth paying",
to which a serving soldier on leave from Afghanistan wrote in
reply an emphatic "no". (SEE http://bit.ly/kL3f9b )

During that time, nineteen US soldiers were also killed, along
with other casualties among the Nato invading armies.

As always, we do not have accurate figures of how many Afghans
were killed, although the US has now apologised for two
airstrikes which killed 32 civilians, most of them women and
children, and 20 Afghan policemen. (SEE http://bit.ly/lJYKO0 )

The insistence by Barack Obama and David Cameron — and their
generals — that "progress" is being made, and the "momentum" of
the Taliban and other resistance forces is being rolled back, is
belied by reports of a war that is day-by-day getting worse.

In the US the astronomical costs of war are now becoming a major
political issue, particularly in the context of an economic
crisis with the highest budget deficit in American history. The
US spends two billion dollars a week on Afghanistan and each
soldier deployed there costs $1 million dollars a year. These
costs, according to an increasing number of US Congress members
are "simply not sustainable" (SEE http://bit.ly/ldhwXN ).

This Saturday 11 June these issues will be taken up at Stop the
War’s day conference: Afghanistan and the War on Terror Ten Years
On, at Conway Hall, London, the full timetable for which has now
been published here: http://bit.ly/gjt1qE

The impressive range of keynote speakers who will lead the
discussions include author David Swanson from the United States,
Tariq Ali, Tony Benn, George Galloway, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Yasmin
Khan from War on Want, author Greg Muttit, musician Dave Randall,
human rights activist Jemima Khan, former soldier Joe Glenton and
artists Peter Kennard, Cat Phillips and David Gentleman. The
sessions are:

* Afghanistan, Pakistan and the War on Terror
* The Uprisings in the Middle East
* Women and War
* Campaigning Around Parliament
* Iraq: The Aftermath
* Imperialism in the 21st Century
* Art Against War
* The Anti-War Movement: Ten Years On

Pre-registration for the conference is now open. Tickets are £5
and can be booked online here: http://bit.ly/gjt1qE

SATURDAY 11 JUNE DAY CONFERENCE 10.30AM-5.30PM
AFGHANISTAN AND THE WAR ON TERROR TEN YEARS ON
CONWAY HALL RED LION SQUARE LONDON WC1R 4RL
REGISTRATION 9.30 AM. TICKETS £5.
For updates and to book a place: http://bit.ly/gjt1qE