Lest we forget: how do we justify Afghanistan?

People who demand that our government justify its decisions are principally motivated by concern for those relatives and fellow countrymen who are being asked to risk their lives on our behalf.

Likewise, the concern expressed for the many Afghan people affected by our decisions is also legitimate. Australian lives and Afghan lives should be accorded equal dignity and attract the same moral concern. The legal and moral principles we profess to live by have universal application.

Few of us would be willing for our most cherished loved ones to be sacrificed on the basis of any of the justifications trotted out by the proponents of our continuing involvement in Afghanistan.

We should not expect others to die on our behalf, or allow our leaders to demand such sacrifice in our name. We can only do so by treating the lives of others as being of less worth than our own.

Remembrance Day invites us to pause and reflect on the horror that our military involvement perpetuates and to ask whether it can really be justified. Or whether there might be a better way.

We must all work for peace – in ourselves, in our family, in our community and in our world.

This is the legacy entrusted to us by our forbears from the trenches.

Lest we forget!