Zach+O.+--Afghan+War

Home Small Wars Project Perspectives on Afganistan Midterm Assignment Student Recommendations - Position Essays

TASK II: Write and Post a POSITION ESSAY to the wiki. Due Thursday, December 15th. Write an essay that advances a well-supported position on the question below and post it on: Student Recommendations wiki **How should the United States proceed in Afghanistan? ** Position Essay RUBRIC: A quality will essay will •open by setting up a context for the question--briefly explain why the unites States is fighting a war in Afghanistan, •develop a position or specific answer to the question that precisely states how the United States should proceed in Afghanistan, •use two criteria of the Just War Theory to analyze to what extent the U.S.'s involvement in Afghanistan is a Just War, •use three Perspectives to support your explanation of why our involvement in the war benefits or harms AFGHANIS, •use three different Perspectives to support your explanation of why the war benefits or harms AMERICANS, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14px;">•draw supporting information from the articles studied in class which are posted on Moodle, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14px;">•wrap up the essay by restating the key reasons why your position is the best way for the U.S. to proceed in Afghanistan. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14px;">•organize your ideas in extended power paragraphs, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14px;">•establish the credibility of sources, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14px;">•cite sources internally and in a Works Cited, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14px;">•edit language errors from writing, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14px;">•post the essay on <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Student Recommendations

The United States is fighting a war in Afghanistan because of Al-Qaeda's attack on September 11. We had a just cause of invading them to capture Osama bin Laden. The U.S. is also fighting there to protect our country in order to prevent other terrorist attacks. However, the U.S. is protecting Afghanistan from the Taliban. Even though it is costing millions of dollars and putting our country in debt, they cannot just leave and let Afghanistan work things out by themselves. The U.S. needs to stay there until Afghanistan is able to maintain on their own. The year 2014 seems like a long time to remove the U.S. troops but it is Obama's decision and he would know what is best. Right now the U.S. is doing Afghanistan a favor by trying to help them out, and if they just leave when the country is still not stable, then Afghanistan might resent and possible invade the United States. We do not want to go through that again.

This war is just because according to the jus ad bellum criteria, we had a just cause of being there. They invaded us so we invaded them. Many pacifists would say that going to war was a bad idea, but if we were to not respond, other countries would look at us as an easy target for not fighting back and they too would invade us. We did technically go into war as a last resort because Al-Qaeda did the worst possible thing to us so we had no choice but to invade.

There are many arguments as to when the United States should proceed in Afghanistan. Some say that the U.S. should stay to maintain order, and others say they should leave. Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zarari wants to have the U.S. stay a little longer and he supports their involvement in Afghanistan. He was happy to see that the U.S. had killed bin Laden (CNN). General John R. Allen believes that the U.S. should stay until we have gave Afghanistan their full support. Germans foreign minister Guido Westerwelle also believes that the U.S. should stay until 2014 because he is very involved in foreign affairs and it would be best is the U.S. makes sure that Afghan's government is in good shape.

The Veterans of Foreign Affairs know what is like to be fighting so far away from home, so they want the U.S. to leave very soon. Barack Obama however does not agree with that and believes that until the Afghan's government is doing well, then we can leave, which will probably be in 2014. Farbia Nawa says that this whole mess was already a disaster even before the U.S. got involved.

I believe that the U.S. should try to leave Afghanistan as soon as they can, but until Afghanistan is able to handle themselves on their own. A quality will essay will •open by setting up a context for the question--briefly explain why the unites States is fighting a war in Afghanistan, general context offered •develop a position or specific answer to the question that precisely states how the United States should proceed in Afghanistan, clearly done •use two criteria of the Just War Theory to analyze to what extent the U.S.'s involvement in Afghanistan is a Just War, general reference to criteria •use three Perspectives to support your explanation of why our involvement in the war benefits or harms Afghanis, one perspectives listed •use three different Perspectives to support your explanation of why the war benefits or harms Americans three perspectives listed •draw supporting information from the articles studied in class which are posted on Moodle, no articles referenced •wrap up the essay by restating the key reasons why your position is the best way for the U.S. to proceed in Afghanistan. one sentence summary made • organize your ideas in extended power paragraphs, inconsistently done, a few paragraphs offer no evidence •establish the credibility of sources, a few sources credited •cite sources internally and in a Works Cited, WC and internal citations not done •edit language errors from writing, minor spelling, grammar and other language usage errors •post the essay on Student Recommendations done

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