Are we being honest about the war in Afghanistan?

First a little background. Our congregation has two members currently serving in Afghanistan. Both by the way have been previously deployed in Iraq.

I have heard from some who have been deployed there that in addition to being hot and having lousy living conditions, the security situation there was much worse than in Iraq and that the level of personal danger to US soldiers was quite high. I have also heard some reservations that the current government would ever be able to control the country.

I remember so well that during the Bush Presidency, our movement made a controversial resolution concerning Iraq and calling for a timetable for withdrawal.

With General McChrystal’s statements, it has become clearer to me that President Obama has listened to the voices of the military who have called to an ill thought-out escalation. I was against the escalation at the time and actually wrote a possible resolution calling for the President and Congress of the United States to bring swiftly and safely home all US troops and military, CIA, and similar contract personnel from Afghanistan. There were other points in this resolution which I am willing to share later.

In addition, it seems to me that the US war in Afghanistan has paralyzed and distorted US foreign policy in other, far more crucial areas of the world. Over the last decade, the coalition of forces led by the United States has been preoccupied first with Iraq and now with Afghanistan. While this has occurred, the present Iranian government has pursued the development of a nuclear technology and despite the fact that it has repeatedly asserted is aimed at civilian nuclear energy, most observers have found much evidence to suggest that Iran is indeed pursing a nuclear weapon.

So here is my point.

Why are we being so silent about this war?

Is it because we received a lot of blowback on the Iraq resolution and given our current financial problems we do not wish to aggravate our congregations? If so, then beseder but only to a point, and that point is reflected in the first paragraph above with the current danger being faced by our troops.

Or, is it because we are hesitant to criticize the policies of a Democratic administration with whom we frequently agree? We were not hesitant to criticize the foreign policy of a Republican administration with which we agreed on little. If this is the case, then this type of “real politic” is highly problematic in my view and this leads to the question, “Are we in the Reform Movement being honest about the war in Afghanistan?

Fred Guttman