Is Afghanistan the Good War?

Scott Simon gave a moving commentary on NPR about the Taliban: Scott Simon Commentary

The jist of the article described the brutality of the Taliban; their total disregard for woman’s rights, people’s rights in general, and their intolerance to any behavior that violated their interpretation of Islamic Law. It was a depressing, gruesome tale- all true, and quite opposite to our basic beliefs of how people should be treated. He reminded us that the Taliban are a cruel and vicious people; that life under their rule was unthinkably oppressive, and while they are not Al Qaeda, our efforts to fight them has merit- that it may be a crime to let them regain control, and implying that fighting to establish a better place for the people may be an honorable endeavor.

He’s suggesting if it was necessary to go there in the first place, then we have a moral obligation to complete our mission- and not leave after eight years with the same horrid conditions that existed before we invaded. He’s asking if the Taliban are evil, is this a good war, a war of necessity? Can we leave before the job is done, regardless of how long it takes?

Do we ever go to war when only the life of humanity is in the balance? Unfortunately, we don’t. We pick our battles for other reasons.  If it involves: revenge to those who trespassed against us, controlling who gets oil, defending Israel, or upholding our alliances with Europe, then we’ll do just about anything.  Even overthrowing the Taliban was just a means to an end- getting at Al Qaeda. But, if it’s only inhumanity to man that’s at stake, we have a very poor record.

I can point out the killing fields of Cambodia, Chad, Sudan, Congo, Nigeria, Somalia, Burma, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, and Indonesia- to name a few, where we had no financial or political skin in the game, and we chose to ignore the plight of the people. It continues today. If our foreign policy is to make the world a better place for humanity- we’ve failed miserably.

Our record of selective moral righteousness makes us hypocrites in the eyes of the world. We’re not morally righteous, and he’s correct to suggest that we should be, but we have yet to walk the walk for that reason alone, and no other. If Afghanistan is the good war, are we prepared to stay for as long as it takes to ensure humanity? I don't think we have the resolve to do that- that's not why we went there, and that's not why we would stay.