'Refugees welcome': Protesters demand end to foreign wars

Hundreds of protestors have taken to the streets of Glasgow calling for the UK government to “take a lead” in welcoming refugees from Afghanistan as they demand an “end to foreign wars”.

Activists gathered on the city centre’s Buchanan Street amid further unrest in the war-torn Central Asia nation as American, British and allied troops pull out after a 20-year conflict.

The Taliban are now taking back control of Afghanistan, including capital city Kabul, leaving many fearing for their lives and future of the country.

The protest, held on Wednesday, was organised by the Afghan Human Rights Foundation and the Glasgow Stop The War Coalition.

And, according to them, the problem was caused by the starting of the war in 2001, following the 9/11 terror attacks in New York, and not how it ended.

They are now calling for the so-called “war on terror” to be declared over.

A spokesperson for the groups said: “The disaster now unfolding in Afghanistan is the consequence of a twenty-year long failed military intervention.

“The responsibility rests with the US, British and other NATO governments which plunged into a war that was always doomed to fail.

“The starting of the conflict, not the manner of the ending of it, was the problem.

“The defeat of the US and British militaries in Afghanistan means that this intervention joins those in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen as a calamity that has cost tens of thousands of lives and vast resources to no purpose.

“It is time that the “war on terror”, the pretext for these interventions, is declared over.

“The British government should take a lead in offering a refugee programme and reparations to rebuild Afghanistan.

“Join us on Wednesday to demand this and no more foreign wars.”