On the ninth anniversary of the beginning of the Afghanistan war, and at the start of the tenth year of occupation, peace campaigners from the Justice Not Vengeance group (JNV) gather opposite Downing Street in London for nine hours to read the names of those who have been killed on all sides during the conflict.

They gather on the day senior military commanders meet with British Government ministers to negotiate the terms of funding for the armed forces of the UK over the coming period otherwise known as the Strategic Defence Review (SDR).

The negotiations take place just over two years after UK and US financial markets collapse sparking direct intervention into capital markets by those Government's primarily engaged in the so-called War on Terror.

The SDR was due to be completed in September 2010 but due to inter-service competition for resources the final announcement has been delayed and is now expected on October 19th just one day prior to the announcement of austerity measures, widely expected to cause severe drawing down of public services within the domestic UK public sector.

The coalition Government are now under intense pressure from non Labour party affiliated groups to favour the financial welfare of the domestic UK population over the armed forces and to take this opportunity to engage fully with demands for the withdrawal of the armed forces of the UK from Afghanistan.

As the anniversary passes, and the first decade of the occupation of Afghanistan attempts to begin, most media around the world continue to reveal chronic inability to understand what goals the military forces of the International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) are working towards, thereby confirming that the war and occupation of Afghanistan has now reached its logical conclusion.

Downing Street, London, UK. 07th October 2010.

Afghan civilian death toll jumps 31 per cent due to insurgent attacks – UN (10th August 2010)
 http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35575&Cr=Afghan&Cr1