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Chris Seiple, the president of the Institute for Global Engagement,  Jean Bethke Elshtain, ethics professor at the University of Chicago, and Will Willimon, bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church, discuss whether the U.S. should stay militarily involved in Afghanistan.

The U.S. will be involved militarily in Afghanistan and Iraq for the rest of our lives. This is not unusual; it has been involved militarily in Europe and Japan since the end of World War II, and in Korea, since the 1953 armistice. We are still in the Balkans. Unfortunately, this is how stability and the opportunity for positive change come in a fallen world.

At its best, U.S. military involvement is consistent with the best of local culture and religion, but also deepens and expands a rule of law that protects minorities. The U.S. government is not Christian or inherently good. But it is generally staffed by Americans who are committed to principled pluralism, an idea that can be traced to Christians like Roger Williams, William Penn, and John Locke, who wrestled with how best to engage the world—especially minority populations—as it is.

In Afghanistan, we are fighting on the more tolerant side of an intra-Islamic conflict against an extremist ideology that enslaves conscience and women. Our side, however, is rampantly corrupt, containing elements of a culture and corresponding constitution that essentially denies pluralism's freedom to respectfully share beliefs. Welcome to the real world.

In this context, the U.S. military should continue to show unprecedented restraint in waging the war, while creating a space for, and modeling, principled pluralism. Such a process often begins with Provincial Reconstruction Teams. Such military teams coordinate with local and national officials, as well as Afghan and international nongovernmental organizations and, most importantly, Afghanistan's ethno-religious system of councils (the shura and the jirga).

A successful reconstruction team will leave the local government running more effectively and smoothly than before. It is here that a culture of collaboration and consensus can be demonstrated and developed. Over time, this kind of practical pluralism makes routine the gathering of individuals of deeply different ethnicities, faiths, and values, so that they can share their differing beliefs about how best to serve the people in that area.

The training and education necessary to consistently convene such a forum in Afghanistan, however, is still lacking in the military (and, by extension, the rest of the U.S. government). For example, how does one engage a Pashtun-Islamic understanding of justice in presenting and implementing governance and development projects? What mediation and conflict transformation skills are needed? There are no easy answers.

It is in America's interest to train our military and government leaders in social-cultural-religious engagement. This kind of training is no panacea, but without it, we stand little chance of civilians learning from and taking over this role from the military.

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Chris Seiple is president of the Institute for Global Engagement and author of The U.S. Military/NGO Relationship in Human Interventions. Jean Bethke Elshtain and Will Willimon also weighed in.

Previous Christianity Today articles on Afghanistan include:

Hard Times for Christian Aid Groups in Afghanistan and Somalia | As Christians mourn murder of International Assistance Mission workers in Afghanistan, Somalia orders out Christian groups. (August 9, 2010)

Afghan Girls Poisoned for Attending School | Some Afghan groups believe educating girls is forbidden in Islam and corrosive to society. (Her.meneutics, April 29, 2010)

Christmas in Afghanistan | Why, Lord, do you allow this time, of all times, to become for some a memorial of searing pain? (December 22, 2009)

Unconfirmed report on martyrdom deepens gloom for Christians | Unconfirmed report on martyrdom deepens gloom for Christians. (October 1, 2004)

Previous Village Green sections have discussed Bible smuggling, creation care, intelligent design, preaching, immigration, Lent, premarital abstinence, aid to foreign nations, technology, and abortion.

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September 2010, Vol. 54, No. 9