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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

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 110%;">Mitch Nini

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 110%;">Buchholtz/Sidor

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 110%;">Position Essay/ American Studies

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 110%;">15 December 2011

<span style="display: block; font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">How the United States Should Proceed in Afghanistan

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 110%;"> The United States has been fighting a war in the Middle Eastern country of Afghanistan since October of 2001. We invaded Afghanistan because the insurgent Taliban was hosting a safe haven for Osama Bin Laden and his terrorist group, al-Qaeda, who was responsible for the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. US soldiers have been fighting now in Afghanistan for more than a decade, and recently there have been much talk about when the United States should depart from Afghanistan. My view and position on this highly opinionated issue is that for the benefit of United States and Afghani citizens, we should leave Afghanistan as soon as possible.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 110%;"> The War in Afghanistan would not be considered a just war. In the jus ad bellum criteria under the just cause property, a war that is punishing people who have done wrong is not just. One of the main reasons why we invaded Afghanistan was to punish al-Qaeda, who had a safe haven in the Afghan mountains under the insurgent Taliban rule. Although we believed that innocent American’s could have the potential to be in imminent danger after 9/11, this war is still not just because “the United States invaded Afghanistan to crush al-Qaeda” (Gentile, Michaels) says USA Today reporters, Carmen Gentile and Jim Michaels. The last resort property is another property in the jus ad bellum criteria, which also proves that the War in Afghanistan is unjust. The last resort property states that we go to war when there is nothing else we can really do. Soon after 9/11, President George W. Bush had no choice but to invade Afghanistan “to topple the Taliban” (Carmen, Michaels) so they could catch Bin Laden and other al-Qaeda members responsible for 9/11 and prevent any more attacks on the United States. Even though there was no other choice but to invade Afghanistan, this war is unjust since the reason of invading Afghanistan was to punish al-Qaeda for 9/11. All in all, the War in Afghanistan was not just because the reasons for involvement all tie back to punishing al-Qaeda for their wrongdoings and to prevent them from happening again.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 110%;"> My position on how we should proceed in Afghanistan can benefit more Afghani’s than it can harm. My first perspective comes from Senator Peter Galbraith from Vermont. According to student Arat Infante, Senator Galbraith believes that we can leave Afghanistan whenever we want. Infante says that our presence in Afghanistan makes no difference to the citizens (Infante, Peter Galbraith). This means that Senator Galbraith thinks the Afghani’s would not be harmed if we suddenly left. The next perspective I will be using is from California Congresswomen, Barbara Lee. Congresswoman Lee set up a website for a petition, so she could write a letter to President Obama, asking him to order a significant drawdown of troops in Afghanistan. On her website for her petition, Lee says that “we would like to see stability in Afghanistan and a situation that improves the lives of civilians (particularly women and girls), we recognize that we won't be able to accomplish either through continued military intervention” (Lee). This means that Afghani citizens would benefit more from the US if we withdraw troops. The last perspective I will be using comes from Madeleine Bunting, a reporter for The Hindu. Her view on this issue is that the US troops should leave to avoid human right violations of Afghan women. In her article, Bunting quotes former First Lady Laura Bush saying “the fight against terrorism is about the fight for the rights and dignity of women” (Bunting). For everyday we do not take our troops out of Afghanistan, that just adds more and more women who are being harmed and having their human rights being taken from them.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';"> Also, my position on how I believe the US should proceed in Afghanistan will benefit American citizens. The first perspective I will be using is from Iranian writer, Ismail Salami. Salami believes that the US should get out of Afghanistan as soon as possible. According to student Emily Miller, Salami wants the US out of Afghanistan “ <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">because of their problems with their economy that they have neglected to take care of” (qtd. Miller, Ismail Salami). Salami’s perspective would benefit US citizens because the government would not be taking as much tax money, which would ultimately benefit the citizens and the economy. The next perspective comes from Los Angeles Times reporters, <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif';">Linda J. Bilmes and Joseph E. Stiglitz. The two reporters both believe that the US should withdraw troops as soon as possible to save the US economy because an enormous amount of money being spent towards this war is being wasted. According to Bilmes and Stiglitz, “roughly 1 of every 4 dollars spent on wartime contracting was wasted or misspent” (Bilmes, Stiglitz). All of this money is deeply hurting the US economy daily, so if we do not withdraw troops right now, millions of American’s could be in a world of pain and poverty. Another perspective that believes we should send US troops out of Afghanistan comes from the VFW, the Veterans of Foreign Wars. This organization believes that a withdrawal is the most logical choice. According to student John Masters, “the VFW would support the idea of coming home quickly, so that the economy can regain its poise and for the soldiers to return home” (qtd. Masters, VFW). The VFW’s position would benefit American’s because it would help save the economy as well as benefiting the soldiers fighting, by letting them return to their families.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 110%;"> In conclusion, my position on what we should do in Afghanistan would not only benefit American citizens, but it would benefit Afghanis as well. If we were to withdraw our troops as soon as possible, American citizens would be benefited because the US economy can regain its poise, US citizens would not have to pay as high of taxes, and also soldiers would be able to come home to their families and not fight a war that should be over. Afghan citizens would also benefit from this plan because US presence does not make an enormous difference, lives of the citizens would be improved, and Afghan women would gain their rights back.

Works Cited

Bilmes, Linda J, and Joseph E Stiglitz. “America’s costly war machine.” //Los Angeles Times// 18 Sept. 2011: n. pag. //Los Angeles Times//. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://articles.latimes.com>.

Bunting, Madeleine. “The Afghan war and the myth of women’s rights.” //The Hindu// 4 Oct. 2011: n. pag. //The Hindu//. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. <http://www.thehindu.com>.

Lee, Barbara. “Another way to bring the troops home from Afghanistan .” //CREDOaction//. CREDOaction, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://act.credoaction.com>.

Gentile, Carmen, and Jim Michaels. "Afghanistan: A Decade of War." //USA TODAY//. 07 Oct 2011: A.1. //SIRS Issues Researcher.// Web. 13 Dec 2011.

Arat Infante. Peter Galbraith, Perspectives on Afghanistan, Buchholtz/Sidor American Studies, 14 Dec 2011.

John Masters. VFW, Perspectives on Afghanistan, Buchholtz/Sidor American Studies, 14 Dec 2011.

Emily Miller. Ismail Salami,, Perspectives on Afghanistan, Buchholtz/Sidor American Studies, 14 Dec 2011.

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, clearly done •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, clearly done •use three Perspectives to support your explanation of why our involvement in the war benefits or harms Afghanis, all three perspectives referenced •use three different Perspectives to support your explanation of why the war benefits or harms Americans three perspectives referenced •draw supporting information from the articles studied in class which are posted on Moodle, some 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. Focused summary made • organize your ideas in extended power paragraphs, competently done •establish the credibility of sources, sources NOT credited •cite sources internally and in a Works Cited, minor errors in internal citations; WC correctly done--except it should be ordered alphabetically •edit language errors from writing, edited for language usage errors •post the essay on Student Recommendations done