Minnesota Peace Action Coalition Statement on Trump’s Troop Withdrawal Plans

President Trump’s announcement in December that he would withdraw US troops from Syria and Afghanistan was met with confusion and criticism from both parties in Washington. A month later, however, it’s clear the question is not “how” the troops will be brought home, but whether they will be brought home at all.

Trump has hinted that troops in Syria will merely be moved to Iraq and continue to be sent on illegal excursions into Syria – or relocated to the Mexican border, to fire weapons into Mexico at civilian asylum seekers. Airstrikes in Syria have actually intensified since Trump’s claim that troops would be withdrawn. In Afghanistan, revelations of new CIA-trained death squads show that Trump has no intention of ending America’s war in that country, either. And in recent days, under pressure from war hawks in both parties, Trump administration officials have declared that any withdrawal of troops from Syria will be put on hold all but indefinitely.

Trump’s initial announcement of a decision to bring the troops home was a response to the fact that vast numbers of people in the US oppose the endless wars and militarism. His backtracking reveals that this was never more than an empty political stunt. The only way wars end is when people mobilize to demand the troops be brought home. Instead of Trump’s fake withdrawal plans, the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition supports building an independent anti-war movement that demands a real end to the wars and US militarism.

Troops Home Now — Out of Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, and Off the Border!