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The war the United States is conducting in Afghanistan is a just one, according to a presentation given at the University of Maine on Feb. 12.
Ray Raymond — a 20-year veteran of the United Kingdom’s diplomatic corps, former advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair and a Member of the Order of the British Empire — said the involvement of U.S. and NATO forces near the Afghanistan and Pakistan border, where al-Qaida is known to operate, is a justified reaction to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and since. U.S. forces are engaged in building peace for Afghanistan, Raymond said.
The former diplomat visited UMaine through Professor Michael Palmer’s lecture series, “The Program in Western Civilization and American Liberty.”
“The War in Afghanistan: Just, Necessary, and Winnable” was the title of Raymond’s lecture on U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. Raymond said the purpose of the lecture was “to stimulate thought.”
The Afghanistan war is necessary, Raymond said, because in the case of failure, Afghanistan would revert to its pre-9/11 state and become a safe haven for terrorists. He also said al-Qaida would use any weapons of mass destruction they could, and recalled a conflict in which terrorists had come within 36 miles of Islamabad, which is known to hold approximately 80 to 100 nuclear weapons. He asked the audience to raise their hands if they thought that al-Qaeda would hesitate to use weapons of mass destruction. No one did.
Explaining his claim that the war in Afghanistan is winnable, Raymond described a holistic plan for victory, involving military, political, economic and diplomatic strategies. He predicted that U.S. involvement in Afghanistan could continue for up to three decades from now, and spoke of the U.S. troops still stationed in Germany today as a result of World War II.
“Patience, patience. Be patient,” Raymond told the audience.
The former diplomat also praised General Stanley A. McCrystal’s counterinsurgency tactics and stressed the need for Afghan troops to work closely with U.S. and NATO forces in order to learn by example and legitimize the Afghanistan government. He criticized President Barack Obama for committing to a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, claiming that such a move sent the wrong signal to both the enemies and allies of the United States.
In the next lecture of his series, Palmer will be welcoming one of his former students, Khalil Abed, to speak on the topic, “Can Islam Coexist with Western Civilization?” The presentation will be in Room 140 of Bennett Hall on Feb. 19.
