The Dutch army has been active Afghan province of Uruzgan since 2006 in an attempt to promote stability and security. In March, a decision had to be made by the government whether or not the mission of the Dutch forces should be prolonged. In the end, the coalition government could not agree (causing its collapse) and this meant that the mission will finishes at the end of 2010. The sparked discussions and consequently the lack of consensus raise the question: was the decision of the Netherlands to leave morally responsible? Those who oppose a prolonged stay argue that the Netherlands has already done its (positive) duty by staying there for over four years and that another country contribute their share by taking over. Other opposers state that the presence of the Netherlands has only led to increased instability causing a lot of harm. Therefore, they argue that staying would have been irresponsible, since we should not want to cause harm to others. Supporters of a prolonged stay point out that the positive duty has not been fulfilled; they argue that the Netherlands is leaving a half-done job behind. Some go as far as claiming that the Netherlands, as a member of the NATO, has a special duty to rebuild Afghanistan – they cannot simply leave the country in ruins since they were (partly) responsible for it in the first place. On that same note, they also disagree with the notion that the country has not benefited from the military presence of the Netherlands. Putting the arguments of the two sides together yields the conclusion that this is a morally hard case. The fact that there is still a war going on in the country, making the society far from well ordered further complicates matters. However, I believe that, if the country does indeed benefits from the presence of the Dutch forces, the Netherlands took a morally wrong decision in this matter.
This is such a big moral case that there never can be made a decision which would be good for all parties. This problem would have disastrous effects for either the people of Afghanistan or the Western community. On the one hand you don’t want to leave Afghanistan, because the country has still a lot of problems. Furthermore, there is a reasonable chance that the Taliban will again take over the control of the country. In this way Afghanistan is not in the possibility to change from a medieval nation in to a modern, democratic nation one. Does the Western country want to be responsible for the possible take-over of the Taliban and the dramatic consequences? I don’t think so. On the other hand the European countries, including the Netherlands, have been misled by the United States of America. They are in a fight war instead of a rebuilding mission. I’m not surprised that the coalition government has not found a good solution; according me there isn’t one. s568906
The writer disagrees with the decision to leave Afghanistan. However, from a moral perspective it can be said that everyone deserves equal rights. Due to the contribution of the Netherlands in Afghanistan the past years, it did not have the chance to help out other parts of the world, for example in Africa which were also in need of help. Furthermore, the agreement at first was to stay in Afghanistan for 2 years. This already doubled to 4 yours. This is risky, since Afghanistan is a tough and dangerous mission. In morality it is ought to take care of each other. Therefore it is morally permissible to pull back from Afghanistan. s985590
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Welcome to the Business Ethics IB weblog! This weblog is meant for and managed by International Business students following the course in Business Ethics (360026) at Tilburg University. Students can use this weblog supporting the course in Business Ethics, discussing for instance the theory lectured in the course in relation to a current topic in business.
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2 comments:
This is such a big moral case that there never can be made a decision which would be good for all parties. This problem would have disastrous effects for either the people of Afghanistan or the Western community. On the one hand you don’t want to leave Afghanistan, because the country has still a lot of problems. Furthermore, there is a reasonable chance that the Taliban will again take over the control of the country. In this way Afghanistan is not in the possibility to change from a medieval nation in to a modern, democratic nation one. Does the Western country want to be responsible for the possible take-over of the Taliban and the dramatic consequences? I don’t think so. On the other hand the European countries, including the Netherlands, have been misled by the United States of America. They are in a fight war instead of a rebuilding mission. I’m not surprised that the coalition government has not found a good solution; according me there isn’t one.
s568906
The writer disagrees with the decision to leave Afghanistan. However, from a moral perspective it can be said that everyone deserves equal rights. Due to the contribution of the Netherlands in Afghanistan the past years, it did not have the chance to help out other parts of the world, for example in Africa which were also in need of help.
Furthermore, the agreement at first was to stay in Afghanistan for 2 years. This already doubled to 4 yours. This is risky, since Afghanistan is a tough and dangerous mission. In morality it is ought to take care of each other. Therefore it is morally permissible to pull back from Afghanistan.
s985590
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