When the United States decided to invade Afghanistan in the fall of 2001, it can be argued that morality played a supporting role in the United States decision. While the main goal of the invasion was to eliminate the Taliban regime which had been supporting terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda, the invasion also served to free the Afghan people from Taliban oppression.
According to the Institute for Afghan Studies in 2000 (http://www.institute-for-afghan-studies.org/AFGHAN%20CONFLICT/TALIBAN/intro_kakar.htm), the Taliban committed many heinous and unjust crimes against the Afghans, especially women: “The Taliban initially banned all girls’ schools, although more recently they have opened a handful of schools for girls under the age of 12. They have prevented women from working, except in health care centers; if they leave their houses they have to be covered from head to foot with a veil or a “chadaree”. Besides being veiled, women are usually required to be accompanied by a male relative when they go out on the streets. Taxi drivers have been admonished not to give ride to women unless they are covered fully. And women caught violating these rules have been beaten.” The laws passed to restrict the personal freedoms of women represent only one aspect of the Taliban’s oppression.
However, the restrictions that the Taliban forced on the Afghan people were not just towards women but also thrust upon men. “… [They] are required to grow untrimmed beards (considered to be Sunnah, something practiced and thus imitated from the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)) and pray five times a day (one of the five pillars of Islam). They have also cut the hands of thieves and stoned to death those who are convicted for adultery (as outlined, they maintain, by Islamic law). They have also banned kite flying, chicken fights, keeping pigeons and gambling (since they believe that this will lead to moral corruption) as well as many other restrictions such as the celebration of certain holidays and other forms of entertainment including music.” These restrictions limited the freedom of the Afghan people and were used by the United States as further evidence supporting the invasion of Afghanistan. The use of moral foreign policy in conjunction with regular foreign policy helped to bolster the United States argument for invasion.
I agree that the United States did invade Afghanistan for moral reasons. However, with the War in Iraq many resources have been diverted from Afghanistan to Iraq allowing the Taliban to regain territory in the rural ares of the country. If the United States commits to entering a country and freeing them from previous oppression they should provide adequate military and political support until groups like the Taliban are no longer able to threaten the freedom of Afghan people.
Morals can often cause tricky situations like this one shows, at least from a theoretical stance. Both the Taliban and and the United States believe they acted morally. The Taliban saw their laws as instilling public and Islamic morality, whereas the United States saw them as immoral and dangerous to humanity, which helped justify their decision to take them out of power. Obviously I side with the United States and believe the Taliban put in place very immoral laws, but is that just my personal feeling, or is there some higher authority (the UN? God?) that determines whether governments act morally or immorally? Obviously when two groups think they are morally justified it causes greater difficulty to solve problems (Israel and Palestine). But can a person say that an action is universally moral, or can we only say a majority of people find it moral?