911 20 Years On

So, we have reached the end of an era. If you had told me 20 years ago that we were about to embark on a two-decade war in Afghanistan, I would have thought you were crazy. We learned our lesson with Vietnam. We don’t have some almighty ability to force other parts of the world to bend to our will. We are not as powerful as we often think we are. And we sure don’t get into endless wars anymore. But the war on terrorism had totally new categories and rules of engagement. It wasn’t hot and it wasn’t cold; it is much more psychological. And I’m not sure that we are all that good at this sort of combat.

If you had told me that at the end of that war, that the Taliban would simply walk in and resume control as we retreated, I would have had to say that would not be surprising. We know how to fight. We know how to outspend the enemy. But we aren’t very good at “winning the peace.” And we aren’t that good at changing cultures. And we are terrible at outlasting hardship.

In fact, if anything, we have been changed. It is hard to see the America of 2001 today. Divisions are greater. Categories have been redefined. Without changing a single aspect of theology, church practice, understanding of the Gospel, or belief in the Bible, we have gone from conservative to liberal in the eyes of many. What we apparently have failed to do is embrace a more nationalistic, Americanized understanding of things. And in many ways, the new brand of conservatism has more in common with the enemy we faced in 2001. The latest acts of terrorism are not committed by militant Muslims, but by white nationalists. And where the initial attacks on that September morning brought most of the world together, today we are more divided than ever before.

Damaged.