Howard, we would have to discuss Kipling's entire oeuvre to arrive at a conclusion about his political positions and about what matters he changed his mind. The poem is a snapshot and this discussion is what it is, a look at that moment in time with some reference to what more that people know about the background of the period. You will note that people are referring to other works, and are reading the poems in question.

However, a poem that is firmly situated in a wartime situation certainly is about war.