Slate’s Fred Kaplan has weighed in, so it’s official: American efforts in Afghanistan were “doomed from the start,” and now it’s “over.” Okay, so now the Afghan misogynists can get back to their primary occupation of oppressing and enslaving women (the real “war on women”). Congratulations to the Taliban, Kaplan, and all of the other slavery enablers. You should be proud of yourselves.

The slavery enablers (mostly caring, compassionate liberals, but some conservatives too) rationalize their enabling by claiming that America should get over the idea of saving the world. For some, it’s too much of a sacrifice. Others insist that if we can’t save all of the world simultaneously, then we shouldn’t save anyone at all. This last rationale apparently is one of the Bizarro world’s principles of equality.

The very same arguments could have been used in 1860 to reject calls for the northern states to do anything about slavery. After all, if the northern states couldn’t save all of the world at the same time, why bother about some Africans in the south? But fortunately for those Africans and their descendants, the men (and women) in 1860 ignored the enablers of their time and ended slavery.

The sacrifices made to end slavery were enormous, but today we can’t be bothered. The women of Afghanistan are toast, and we are complicit in all of it.