Code Pink Changes Anti-war Approach

Contrary to the wild rumors circulating a couple of days ago, Code Pink did not suddenly go pro-war but after spending two weeks in Afghanistan and talking to women there, the group is taking a more nuanced position.

Medea Benjamin, a founder of the group, Code Pink, said in an interview on Friday that most of the 150 Afghans she and seven colleagues had met with told them, “We’re afraid of the Taliban coming back in, we’re afraid of more civil war, we’re afraid of more chaos.”

They talked about responsible withdrawal,” Ms. Benjamin said.

But those same people also made clear that they considered NATO troops magnets for violence whose presence incited anti-foreign sentiment and encouraged impoverished villagers to pick up weapons for the insurgency.

“Everybody we talked to said that most of the Taliban are poor rural people, $10-a-day Taliban, who are doing this for economic reasons,” she said. “If you want to encourage people to stop fighting, encourage them to work.”

Code Pink will continue pressuring Congress and the White House to come up with an exit plan. However, they've softened their approach a bit. They're saying, "Don’t send more troops. But don’t pull out precipitously, either." [via Steve Hynd]

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