Episode Details

Six weeks after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, can we really say that America is no longer a country at war?

On this episode, we’re featuring two reflections—one political, the other philosophical—on America’s “forever war.”

Longtime Commonweal contributor and historian Andrew J. Bacevich explains the little-understood Carter Doctrine, and why it needs to go, while fiction writer and Marine Corps veteran Phil Klay asks whether war can ever be considered “humane.”

Both are in conversation with Commonweal senior editor Matt Boudway.

For further reading

-      “The Forever War Continues,” Andrew J. Bacevich

-      “Sops to Humanity,” Phil Klay

-      “An Unwinnable War,” The Editors