We Should Help, But Can We?

we don't owe anybody anything; we need to remove our military from these foreign lands and focus on rebuilding this country

Dear David,

"Should we be fighting in Afghanistan? There is a clear moral imperative. The Taliban are a fanatic, fundamentalist regime. The plight of women in Afghanistan should cause every person of conscience sleepless nights."

A thoughtful essay. But what really brought us to Afghanistan was the presence of Al Queda and the choice of the Taliban to protect them while they trained thousands of terrorists to stage outrages worldwide. The problem is that we left Afghanistan to stew after we helped them drive the Soviets out. That lead to its use as a base to stage devastating attacks on US soil. Isolationism never worked in the past. It won't work now. We are part of the world and it is part of us.

Even if one were so inclined as to accept the shaky premise that "There is a clear moral imperative" ( for the US ) to fight in Afghanistan, Kant would object to what the Rabbi thought for "can" to mean, that "ought" implies. Surely, to be able is not enough to define "can" - and the Rabbi doubts that we are able to fulfill the (shaky) moral obligation.
We in fact ought, have a moral obligation to, ask: to what avail? Are we messing anything up as we embark on what we think our moral obligation may be?
The Rabbi thinks of the investment of treasure, life and prestige in an endeavor we are fated to quit in the end, when he ought to think of the benefit to begin with, expected of that investment.
And what if there is more at stake than just American treasure, life and prestige?
Something we have no RIGHT to mess with, in spite of what we loftily think our moral obligation is.

interesting to speak of moral imperatives at this juncture -- there's nothing moral about war, neither in starting one or continuing one. This one may have had some tiny political or logistical justification at one point, but that point is long past. Now we're just there because we can't think of a way to leave that lets us save face, which is more self-serving than moral. To continue under the guise of moral obligation only adds to the immorality of it all.

Not to mention, it denies the reality that,unless we colonize Afghanistan for more than a century, or longer, we'll never hope to achieve the goal of making it a "democratic" country. Democracy has to evolve out of a nation's history and culture. It may be learned or immitated, but it can't be transplanted, certainly not at the point of a gun.

By the way, the original post cuts off mid-sentence.

Thank you Rabbi Wolpe.

Other "realities on the ground": We probably cannot project our power without using military contractors, and many contractors have not conducted themselves as we would hope. We will also need jails for enemy prisoners, if we project our power, and we have not been able to consistently run those professionally.

It seems like every few years we tell ourselves, "Okay, THIS time we're not going to make those mistakes in our war;" but the mistakes are part of every war.