Trust at War and in Peace

A recent report blames both the U.S. and Pakistan for a deadly errant Airstrike (NYTimes.com).  The report indicates that the accidental strike was caused by mutual mistrust. It seems that the military of both the US and Pakistan failed to share crucial information about force location.  If true, the incident reveals the importance of trust in international relations and in the struggle against terrorism.

This goes against the grain of much of what we hear.  War and geopolitics, the wise men (and women) tell us, are about power and self-interest.  Moral notions such as cooperation and trust are dismissed as fuzzy-headed and naive.  Worse still, such values signal weakness, which only invites aggressive behavior on the part of other nations.  Those informed by this type of realism might interpret the air-strike as the result of Pakistan’s thinking that the US is weak.  Of course, such a conclusion would have to explain away the killing of Osama bin Laden.

It is hard for us to take seriously the idea that trust applies to a landscape we associate with violence, secrecy, and suspicion.  This is true not only of the hard-boiled cynics but of those of us who celebrate Christmas.  It is common this time of year to hear a sharp difference drawn between the light of Christ and the darkness of the world.  While a nation at war for over a decade gives some credence to such a division, the truth is that none of us lives without trust, at least not well.  It may be that mistrust is at the heart of what ails not only the US and Pakistan but the human heart.  The promise of Christmas is the renewal of a trust much too profound to be limited to the personal.