Headline: The American withdrawal from Afghanistan

First, local and commonwealth politics.

On September 1^st, the Virginia-Pilot reported that Terry McAuliffe, the democratic gubernatorial candidate, and the republican Glen Youngkin presented talking points to a 300 person gathering at the Virginia FREE leadership luncheon.

McAuliffe focused on the recently passed Texas abortion law, stating that it would be, quote, “I cannot tell you how dangerous this is for women. Dangerous. And it’s crippling for business.”

The Virginia-Pilot article did not elaborate on how it would affect business, nor did any other major publication covering the event. My personal belief is that McAuliffe suggesting the impact to the economy was thrown in because of the topic of the luncheon, not because he has evidence.

When his turn came, Youngkin talked about his tax plan and how spending has occurred under a democrat-led state. In future episodes, we will investigate further the issues at stake.

My goal is not to start arguments on who you should vote for this coming November. I loathe podcasts and radio shows that so quickly show their colors. There are so many Christians on both sides of the isle in Hampton Roads that I would be flat out wrong for telling you who to vote for. You must make that decision for yourself. Indeed, I must make that decision for myself.

The only thing I will suggest you do, indeed implore you to do, is actually vote. While there is no mandate to do so directly in the Bible, as there was no democratic system to vote in and freedoms, particularly for early believers, were virtually non-existent, I will say that I believe the Bible supports voting. At least it does as much as it supports paying your taxes.

When confronted by the challenge of supporting the government with taxes, Jesus asked his detractors whose image was on the coin. When they said Caesar’s, Jesus replied in Mark 12:17,  “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

In our society, rendering to Caesar is giving our vote when called for. Of that, I am convinced. Who you vote for is up to you. I will present many sides throughout the life of this podcast. In the end, however, I hope you will exercise that right to vote in the understanding that it is our mandate to do so.

Turning now to Afghanistan, we start with a great summary of Afghanistan as a country from 9-11 through to today, thanks to a reprint from the Associated Press, published in the 3 September issue of the Virginia-Pilot.

The summary is a good one, if not overly simple. One part that intrigues me most is this quote: “The Afghan military that would collapse in the wake of Taliban advances in 2021 began existence with its recruits often more loyal to a warlord than the army itself. Training was barely eight weeks for new, generally uneducated men. Building the Afghan army was often likened to repairing an aircraft midflight.”

In contrast, the American military’s junior-most service members go through up to 12 weeks of basic training and, in almost every case, advanced follow-on training for their specialty. And, perhaps most important of all, are loyal first to country, then to state or region.

In focusing on what the current administration has promised, the Associated Press brings up an important fact, stating on August 31^st that: “THE FACTS: For the record, Biden vowed that he would get 100% of Americans out before withdrawing forces. And his suggestions Tuesday that many of the remaining Americans are dual nationals who may be undecided about leaving do not reflect the full reality.

The reality is that there are roughly 200 Americans still in Afghanistan. Some of them are dual citizens who may not have intended to leave with the main push, but it is certainly possible that many of them had wanted to leave. The AP article continues, saying: U.S. officials estimated up to 200 Americans were left behind, along with unknown numbers of Afghans and others who were trying frantically to leave.”

So, while I don’t want this to be a political podcast, and I am certainly not trying to call my commander in chief into question, it is important to note that we still have work to do in Afghanistan. So… like how former President Bush claimed the Mission accomplished in Iraq from the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in May 2003, months before the country fell apart, our current president is learning, first hand, that these conflicts are not as cut and dry as we may want.

The impact of America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan has many local impacts. The first is those who served and gave in Afghanistan. I was in the local barber getting my hair cut a few days ago and struck up a conversation with the woman cutting my hair. Our conversation turned first to children, then to spouses, and I asked her what her husband did for a living. Turns out that he was wounded in Afghanistan and is a disabled vet. I’ve deployed a few times in support of the conflict in Afghanistan, but I’ve never been in country. I have no idea what that was like.

And I can’t imagine what it was like to be wounded by an RPG hitting my Humvee, and I can’t imagine what it was like to worry if my spouse was going to make it and I can’t imagine what it was like to learn that my spouse would never be the same. And finally, I can’t imagine what it was like to have America leave the country I sacrificed for, just to have my enemy take back control so quickly.

This war was not Vietnam. I don’t pretend to have the same feelings my father did as he sailed back into port for the last time on his destroyer, the USS Aggerholm, and hear reports of Saigon falling to the communists. But maybe I know a little, just that taste of bewilderment and sadness as I pulled into Norfolk after the last deployment on USS Eisenhower.

I don’t know how many thousands of people in Hampton Roads feel the sting I feel right now. Certainly, many of them feel a greater frustration than I, such as the spouse of my barber.  What I’m going to say next is not a trite statement. We can act now to support those who have suffered during this week. We can pray for veterans, families who have suffered loss, and for Afghanistan’s population, reach out to see what veterans’ associations need in the way of support, and find out who is helping refugees and learn about those needs as well.

Speaking of refugees, I want to draw your attention to a local organization that is helping support those who have and will flee the Taliban rule in the future. The New American Outreach Ministry, headquartered in Yorktown, Virginia, appeared in a 13News Now report from 16 August. In the broadcast, the Afghan refugee situation is brought into the forefront. Patti Cubstead, NAOMi Director, was quoted as saying, “Here on the Peninsula, we have hundreds and hundreds of families who are from Afghanistan and Pakistan who are directly affected.” End Quote. Many of those are families who have green cards but are unable to leave the country now. Others are individuals who supported American forces while in country, and now need real relief.

I want to encourage you to go to www.naomihrva.com and click “Get involved” to learn more. And as you do so, remember the admonishment from God to the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 10:18, 19:

He (Meaning God) executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. You also must love the foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

Before I go, I want to follow up on a promise to keep you informed on the Virginia Redistricting Commission. The commission is meeting again on the 9^th and I’ll follow up on that as well, but for now, I want to point you to a great editorial from the Virginia-Pilot.

In this editorial, the writer rightly points out that the process is difficult most importantly because redistricting involves the lawmaker’s careers themselves. These lines have been drawn very carefully, if not in a sickly matter, in order to keep the lawmaker in question in power, or at least in the running for power. Giving that up for a more equitable districting process has to be difficult. As Christians, we know pride and power are the motivators here.

Thankfully, the commission isn’t made up only of lawmakers. Having civilians represented gives Virginia a better chance of cutting through the pride to make this effort more successful. Now, pride can still get in the way. Almost no one in the country is truly bi-partisan at the moment, so the citizens on the commission must also be fair, but this is, as the Virginia-Pilot points out, a good step.

We must continue praying for this, folks. There’s a good chance that some headway can be made here. I’ll keep you informed.