The great political philosopher on the limits of American missions. With a warning: “We have a moral duty towards those who helped us”
FROM OUR SEND
NEW YORK – «PFor many years I have argued that the mission should have focused on counter-terrorism, not on counter-guerrilla warfare or nation buildingPresident Joe Biden said, explaining the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Political philosopher Michael Walzer, professor emeritus at Princeton University and author ofJust and unjust wars(Laterza) called Afghanistan a “just war” in response to the 9/11 attacks. But “the just war was followed from an ignorant and ineffective occupation», Dice waltz al Courier service. “Bush went to Afghanistan already thinking of Iraq, at the beginning there were no serious commitments or great resources and we did not immediately invite NATO to join but we tried to do it alone, with a minimum number of soldiers and depending on the warlords : an approximate intervention. When we were ready to invest resources and invited NATO, we had already failed. We created a government that did not reflect the Afghan culture, corrupt and for which the soldiers were not ready to die ».
Was the mistake turning an anti-terrorism mission into nation building?
“I’m not entirely against the nation-building if you intervene in a country. We have been involved in Afghanistan for a long time, rivaling Russia which had tried to build its version of a functioning Communist Western state. We opposed their efforts and ended up in the same situation, without knowing how to do it, without knowing the local traditions. We could have tried to create a federal government, as tribal divisions seem so deep: perhaps a central government was doomed to fail from the start. We have made many mistakes ».
Is withdrawing right?
“The decision to leave is right, but badly executed. I don’t understand Biden’s team, I thought they were competent people but the evacuation planning had to start as soon as the decision to leave was made: we have a moral duty to the people who collaborated with us, but we have abandoned so many of them. It is horrendous. Years ago I edited a book called Getting Out. We looked at various examples of exits from wars: the best is the British evacuation from the colonies in America in 1783. The British brought with them 40,000 collaborators in boats of a few hundred people: most of them in Canada, the richest in England. They considered it a moral duty. It took months but they did it ».
Has isolationism prevailed in America?
“After the Second World War we were inclined to commit ourselves to the world, 70-80 years later we still have troops in Germany and Korea. Although not actively engaged in fighting, we have soldiers in Kosovo. They will probably stay a long time. I don’t think it would have been a problem to leave 3,000-5,000 in Kabul ”
What is the lesson?
“We have tried to create a democratic Western state in this distant country and we have failed. In the minds of some there is what we did in Germany and Japan after the Second World War. Of course, Germany had experienced an interruption of democracy only for 12-15 years but in Japan we created a Western-style democracy, but after a total defeat, which did not occur in Afghanistan ».
Was it impossible to win?
“If we had sent 500,000 troops immediately and occupied the country, perhaps it would have been different. Rumsfeld believed in inexpensive interventions with minimal forces. But if you do, you have to do it seriously. Or it is better not ».
Were women’s rights a reason to intervene?
“It was never the original reason. It was a defensive war against the Al Qaeda supporting regime that attacked us. But if you overthrow a government, you have a responsibility for political reconstruction. I was in favor of an intervention in Rwanda, if it happened and the government that supported the massacres fell, we would have a responsibility to create the best possible system for human rights. In Afghanistan we continued what the Russians had started: education for men and women, a professional class. The Taliban will have to adapt to a different country than the one they ruled twenty years ago ”.
August 17, 2021 (change August 17, 2021 | 23:16)
© Time.News