I Stand Corrected...on Afghanastan

Regarding an earlier blog "A Catholic Case for Staying in Afghanastan" (Oct. 7, 2021) my JAG lawyer son pointed out a number of realities I underestimated:

1. In contrast to Syria and Iraq, Afghanastan has no Christian or Catholic community at all. The only chapel was in an embassy. I checked the numbers: some countries have a Catholic population at .01% (North Korea, Cambodia, Kyrgystan, Mauritania, Niger, North Macedonia, Tajikistan); Somalia comes in at .001%; but Afghanastan is by far the smallest at .0003%. Their Muslim culture is fiercely hostile to Christianity. While the urgency to bring the Gospel to every nation may make Afghanastan number one priority, there is a question about prudent use of scarce missionary resources.

2. Afghanastan might also be the most resistant and hostile to Western culture. An anecdote: our military built a courthouse for them. Shortly after it was handed over to the locals a visit showed that it was being used to house sheep and goats. So much for "rule of law" and "due process!"

3. The immense dangers of placing our 18-year-olds with heavy gunnery in violent circumstances: they may perform admirable 99% of the time but that one mistake evokes a tidal wave of hatred for the foreign invaders. It is not fair to our young men and to the locals.

4. Paradoxically, the countryside there is more peaceful now that we are out of there. The Taliban is in control and there is less conflict.

These are serious, sobering realities so I change my mind. I am about 60% confident that withdrawal (however badly executed) was the prudent strategy. Of course, future events may change our evaluations. A single terrorist attack from a base there will be a game changer, but I agree that the Taliban, as rational deciders (we hope), have learned a lesson and will suppress any bases that might provoke another invasion.

The "neoconservative-leaning Catholicism" underlying my earlier argument remains in its fundamentals: first, the imperative to plant the Church everywhere, second the importance of education and dignity for women, and thirdly the broader global cold wars against Sharia law and Communism and the need for vigor, strength, agressiveness.