Louis Stephen, Worcester Green Party parliamentary candidate and Cathedral ward candidate, attended a public meeting about the Afghanistan war on Monday night (28th June).

Joan Humphries, whose grandson Kevin Elliot was killed in Afghanistan in August last year, was the main speaker. She said that 100,000 Afghan civilians have died as a result of the war, 60,000 of whom were women and children. There have been 7,000 coalition forces deaths.

Mrs Humphries spoke of the "export of western terrorism to the second poorest country in the world" and said, "I lay the blame for the death of my grandson at the floor of the present and past US and UK governments." She said that the war "is nothing to do with protecting British citizens...It is about capitalism and imperialism". Mrs Humphries concluded by saying that "getting the troops out is the best way to support them".

At the inquest into her grandson's death, Mrs Humphries was told that the person who killed Kevin Elliot ought to be charged with murder. She asked the question, "How can someone who's defending their country be accused of murder?", and made the comparison with French Resistance fighters killing Nazis invaders.

Mrs Humphries will be speaking at other meetings organised by Stop the War Coalition around the country in London today. She said that she is currently in very high demand, particularly from the BBC.

The war in Afghanistan is faltering, with almost every day's news testifying to the disaster unfolding under the NATO occupation. The military and political establishment is split in both Washington and London, President Karzai and his regime are entirely discredited, and the resistance to the occupation is growing, in spite of all contrary predictions. Yet David Cameron is talking, albeit somewhat half-heartedly, of another five years of war.

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