“I lost my moral compass,” said 23-year old US Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock when he apologised for killing unarmed Afghan civilians in cold blood last year. Morlock is the first of five US soldiers charged with this crime. He got 24 years in prison after his confession. The US has done well to pursue this case and convict Morlock. It is no secret that war is inherently cruel. Even in conventional wars between states, when the opposing armies face each other in the field, cruelty and aberration from the rules of engagement are not unheard of. In civil wars or foreign colonial/imperialist wars, such tendencies exacerbate. There are many reasons for this but one of the most important reasons is frustration against the guerrillas. The strategic plank of guerrilla warfare is that it is a war of attrition meant to wear down the opposing army politically, militarily and psychologically. The guerrillas whittle away at the enemy until either the political will of the opposition evaporates or the guerrillas themselves become so strong as to take on the enemy. This war of attrition increases the frustration levels in the ranks of conventional soldiers. And this is exactly what has happened to the US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. History is full of such incidents of deviation from discipline despite oft-repeated orders from the top command forbidding it. It should not come as a surprise that this is happening in Afghanistan. Historically, American soldiers have treated enemy combatants in such wars as sub-human and this provides a twisted justification for any sort of treatment that is meted out to them. After 9/11, the UN mandated the intervention in Afghanistan but the jury is still out on whether it was a good idea or not. The Afghans have seen bloodshed for the past four decades and want to end it. The US should hasten the withdrawal of foreign troops and let the Afghans agree on a compact that allows rivals to coexist. What is alarming is that the US now plans on setting up permanent bases in Afghanistan in order to ensure that another 9/11 is not planned from Afghan soil. Of course there is no guarantee that such planning cannot take place elsewhere. The Afghans have already been punished enough for 9/11 even though al Qaeda was hardly their representative. All regional and global actors should now have mercy on that ruined country and come to some agreement that there will be no more outside interference and occupation. Once these issues are rolled back, the Afghans must be allowed to settle their own destiny. *