Ireland must Look at its Role in Creating the Current Crisis in Afghanistan

  • Posted on: 19 August 2021
  • By: admin
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Shannonwatch welcomes calls for Ireland to do more to resettle and provide international protection for people fleeing from Afghanistan. It also calls on the government to urgently assess its role in creating the conditions leading to the current catastrophic situation there. In particular, there is an urgent need to assess and end the use of Shannon Airport by the US military, in light of what the twenty-year occupation of Afghanistan has led to.

“Ireland has been complicit in the US led twenty-year war against Afghanistan by not only allowing US military to use Shannon Airport but by inviting the US Government to do so” said Shannonwatch spokesperson Edward Horgan. “Even if we had never been a neutral country we should not allow any military forces to use Irish territory to wage illegal and unjustified wars. The US military use of Shannon should be ended immediately as the USA is still engaged in unjustified military actions in Syria, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere.”

“Following the appalling attack on the US on Sept 11th 2001, the US launched a brutal invasion of Afghanistan in contravention of the UN Charter and without UN Security Council approval. This war was initiated partly on the basis of lies and half-truths.”

“The al-Qaeda terrorist hijackers in the September 11 attacks on the USA were from four countries, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Egypt. None of the al Qaeda terrorists who carried out the 9/11 attacks on the USA were based in Afghanistan, yet it suffered the brunt of the US’s punitive response.”

Afghanistan is now facing a humanitarian and human rights crisis, as the Taliban seize power following the departure of the US led occupying forces. For the Afghan people the legacy of the failed twenty-year military occupation by the US and Britain is the prospect of further oppression. For women and children in particular the future looks bleak.

“Ireland needs to step up its support in response to the current Afghanistan displacement crisis. It also needs to stop supporting the overly militarised US foreign policy that leads to instability and chaos in every country it occupies. The Irish people have never supported the US military use of Shannon. Now is the time to end it.” said Shannonwatch