George Packer views the United States’ political role in Afghanistan with great concern, describing the war in Afghanistan as ‘a tragedy’ in a lecture Thursday night.

‘Right now we are very short of breath in Afghanistan,’ he said.

Packer, a staff writer for The New Yorker, addressed Syracuse University students and members of the Syracuse community in his lecture, ‘An American Dilemma: Obama, Afghanistan and Vietnam,’ in Watson Theater. The lecture was one of a series of six included in the 2010 Syracuse Symposium.

Packer spoke to the audience about America’s current involvement in the war in Afghanistan and its strain on America. He said the nation is no longer capable of engaging in a war of this capacity and doubts the war will end as planned.

‘This kind of war never ends in the battlefield,’ Packer said. ‘It ends in some kind of messy negotiation.’

Instead of garnering the support of the Afghan government, America is pushing the Afghan people closer to the Taliban regime, he said. Packer said America cannot end the war this way.

‘It doesn’t matter what we’ve decided if the Afghan government doesn’t play along,’ Packer said.

With the war’s end insecure, Packer said he believes the war is a strain on the United States, as a whole, and the Obama administration, adding the war ‘is the biggest gamble of Obama’s presidency.’

Although war is being used as a tool to implement peace, it is often damaging to all parties involved, he said. Packer pointed out this is not a new concept for the American public and is evident throughout U.S. history.

‘War is justified with democracy and the promise of peace, and ends in neither of those,’ Packer said.

Packer’s lecture resonated with some student members of the audience. Anders Keitz, a freshman broadcast journalism major, said she found Packer’s lecture to be a sobering glimpse into the political situation of the United States.

‘He really helped me grasp the reality of the war and how, to use his word, ‘tragic’ it really is,’ Keitz said.

Clara Yang, a senior selected studies in education major, said she found the lecture to be informative, as well.

‘It was a very interesting lecture,’ Yang said. ‘It gave me a different perspective to Afghanistan and the war.’

adhitzle@syr.edu

Published on September 19, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Alexandra: adhitzle@syr.edu | @LexieHitzler