Thread by @DoorstepPodcast

This @Reuters report from @Cmkahn detailing @Ipsos polling demonstrates the contradictory impulses on the part of U.S. voters, both in policy and ethical terms. 1/ reuters.com/world/us/biden…

@Reuters @Cmkahn @Ipsos "For example, a majority of the 18-to-65-year-olds who took the Ipsos survey - 68% - agreed that the war “was going to end badly, no matter when the U.S. left,” and 61% wanted the United States to complete its withdrawal of troops on schedule." 2/

@Reuters @Cmkahn @Ipsos "Yet a smaller majority - 51% - also agreed that “it would have been worth it for the United States to leave troops in Afghanistan another year,” and 50% wanted to send troops back into the country to fight the Taliban." 3/

@Reuters @Cmkahn @Ipsos Leave on schedule but then go back to fight to Taliban is, to put it mildly, a contradiction. But this reflects competing ethical considerations: a desire to help, concerns about the fates of Afghans, particularly women and those who worked with the West, but also ... 4/

@Reuters @Cmkahn @Ipsos concerns about the efficacy of U.S. action, the inability to achieve results ... but as a signal from the doorstep, it would be impossible to come up with a coherent policy that would satisfy all of these considerations. 5/

@Reuters @Cmkahn @Ipsos Since the @carnegiecouncil is concerned with ethics in international affairs, which ethical standards governs action? Ethics of likely results, ethics of good intentions? Bringing in @JoeNye's three dimensional test for making such assessments ... 6/

@Reuters @Cmkahn @Ipsos @carnegiecouncil @joenye —balancing intentions, means, and consequences--as a guide to action (cf: @EIAJournal). 7/ ethicsandinternationalaffairs.org/2021/measuring…

@Reuters @Cmkahn @Ipsos @carnegiecouncil @joenye @EIAJournal Then we have @ICPS_GWU #AmitaiEtzioni (@civildialogues)--starting with right to life and proceeding from there. So is getting guarantees about the evacuation of people from Kabul even if it means dealing with the Taliban an ethical choice? 8/

https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1427811284775485450

@Reuters @Cmkahn @Ipsos @carnegiecouncil @joenye @EIAJournal @ICPS_GWU @civildialogues We are going to try and address this and other issues in the next Doorstep podcast. END