Using women in Afghanistan, or any other oppressed group, as a shield to continue wars is really an odious tactic. This war, the costliest in US history, should be justified on the basis of national security interests. Humanitarian reasons can justify peacekeeping missions, but if we stayed at war for 9 years based on what would happen if we left, we’d have garrisons actively fighting in over 100 countries and basically all of our citizens would be off at war. Surely this makes Bill Kristol go over the moon, but the rest of us should be worried. And, as Nick Kristof reports, the people we presume to “save” would rather be saved differently. Full article.