If we can’t subjugate the opposing will, we do a pretty good job of subjugating our own. America wages war like the world’s biggest NGO — a do-gooding non-profit for which armed conflict is not the sharp end of a nation-state’s interest but an act of global stewardship. It’s war as the ultimate NPR pledge drive: Your thoughtful pledge of $12 billion will open a schoolhouse in Kandahar and a women’s-health clinic in Shah Joy and provide everyone therein with a copy of Three Cups of Tea. Six months after the last NATO soldier leaves, there will be no women at the women’s-health clinic and no schoolgirls at the schoolhouse. We came, we spent, we left no trace.