The Afghanistan War: Absurdity or Necessity?

[Alex]

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

But are we fighting for human rights or fighting against terrorism?

I would argue we have shifted, and for better reasons that our justifications shifted in Iraq (which was mainly to cover the fact that the initial justifications proved unfounded).

We were justified in invading Afghanistan because its government was openly harboring an organization that very violently attacked our country and showed no inclination towards changing that.

I agree that we've mostly destroyed Al Qaeda as a threat based in Afghanistan. I am willing to concede that if we leave now they are unlikely to quickly regain the position they had there before (if nothing else the Taliban knows what that would eventually mean).

I have a problem with how women are treated in a lot of the Middle Eastern countries. But I have an even bigger issue with us trying to implement our system of leadership all over the world (without being asked to help).

I do too. And if it were 1999 I would not advocate invading Afghanistan simply to displace the Taliban because of the way it treats women or anything else.

However, that's not the situation we face. The situation we now face is that our quick departure has a high probability of returning Afghanistan to 1999. Our position of responsibility is different now than it was then.

And in terms of asking for our help I'm pretty sure the general population is not opposed to our presence in the way that the average Iraqi was to our presence there. The general population does not want the Taliban to return power.

The goals of this war (and Iraq) have been lost.

The argument being made here is that the original goals of the war in Afghanistan have been achieved. And I mostly agree with that position. I just think we've incurred new responsibilities towards the region along the way.