Afghan war architects should be held accountable

The Nuremberg War Crime Trials established the principle that unjust war is the supreme international crime.  According to Chief U.S. prosecutor at those trials, Robert H. Jackson, unjust war is the supreme crime because all acts of violence in such a war flow from that single action.

That applies to the U.S. war of regime change in Afghanistan begun October 7, 2001. It was unnecessary, unwarranted and unjust, precisely the type of supreme crime the Nuremberg Trials enunciated.

One of the reasons unjust war is so deplorable is the human damage usually does not end with the official end of the war.

That is also precisely what we’re witnessing in America's departure after 19 years, 10 months as the U.S. tries to alleviate calamitous conditions at Kabul Airport At least 20 dead, likely hundreds injured, families separated and no clear end to the chaos.

Sadly, the misery inflicted upon the Afghans by our monstrous war crimes may go on for months, years, decades.

America has ultimate power to quash any attempt by the international community to bring the authors of the Afghan war to justice. But America does have a moral duty to institute a Truth and Reconciliation Commission similar to that formed by South Africa after the end of Apartheid in 1995.

Such a commission would be a court-like restorative justice body. Witnesses could include Afghan victims of U.S. war crimes, while perpetrators of the violence visited upon Afghanistan could be required to give testimony and request amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution.  

Among the perpetrators who should be called include George W. Bush, the president who initiated the war, and key members of his war cabinet, including but not limited to Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.

The architects of the U.S. withdrawal, former President Trump and current President Biden, should also be questioned, not to seek their request for amnesty, but to obtain their reasoning that led them to end the war that our government maintained with little internal criticism, honesty and morality for two decades.  

Taking this courageous step may be traumatic. But just starting the process may possibly cause America to end its other unjust, therefore criminal wars in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.