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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 the United States should 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

Abby Wilmer Sidor-8 Student Recommendation 16 December 2011 The United States Future in Afghanistan The United States has been involved in Mid-Eastern countries, like Afghanistan, since the attacks on September 11, 2011. The invasion to Afghanistan was to contain the terrorist group Al-Qaeda who committed the World Trade Center Attacks. The war has continued to present day and since American troops have planned to leave Iraq by the end of 2011, arguments and questions to when American will withdraw from Afghanistan have been sparked. My position on this topic is that U.S. troops should leave Afghanistan soon, but not immediately.

The war has not been just according to the Just War Theory criteria just cause and probability of success. Within the just cause explanation, a war cannot have the reason of punishing a group of people who might have done wrong. “Afghanistan” an article we read and analyzed in class from the New York Times, dedicated to the highest standards of quality journalism, wrote after 9/11 “President George W. Bush gave the Taliban an ultimatum to hand over Mr. bin Laden” (Afghanistan 3).With the refuge towards the terrorist group after the attacks shows that the U.S. did not have a just cause. In addition to the unjust cause, the probability of America succeeding was slim because the terrorist groups do not have a set location, are Islamic extremists, and fight with harsh war tactics. Within the same article from the New York Times, “the Taliban continued to fight guerilla warfare from a base in the mountainous and largely lawless tribal area on the Pakistan-Afghan border” (Afghanistan 3). Since the Taliban also had a history for ruling Afghanistan and were obviously powerful, the probability of winning was not high. The reasoning for participating in this war was not just because of the goals of diminishing and punishing one group and the low chance of being successful in the war.

My position of slowly withdrawing troops from Afghanistan within a few years could harm Afghanis. Currently the Afghanistan government needs the aid and is dependent on it. Hamid Karzai is my first perspective, studied by Brooks M., who has been the Afghan president since 2004. On Brooks wiki post, he wrote “since the U.S. came into Afghanistan and started providing aid to them, Karzai has never told them to stop or let up. In fact, Karzai begged for more aid…” (Mason, Hamid Karzai). By the government not feeling confident enough to prosper on its own even though its economy is awful, the government shows weakness and a terrorist group like the Taliban could easily overthrow it. My second perspective is from Hasan Askari Rizvi, the National security Analyst in Lahore, Pakistan, studied by Abby W. With the conflicts, uprisings, and violence in Afghanistan, “there are about three million Afghans living in Pakistan as refugees or otherwise’ (Wilmer, Hasan Askari Rizvi). If American troops withdrew soon, many of the refugees may return to Afghanistan, leaving more unemployed people for the already collapsed economy which would harm all who live in Afghanistan and countries invested in it. Lastly, another perspective is from the United States Agency for International Development (or USAID) in Afghanistan, studied by Elizabeth L. This organization tries to build the Afghanistan economically, but if USAID leaves with American troops and aid “the Taliban will destroy <span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Arial Narrow',sans-serif;">human rights in Afghanistan and take away many privileges and turn it into a dictator ship and enforce Islamic rule everywhere ” (Limotta, USAID). Fear that the Taliban will again take over Afghanistan and replace laws with harsh and cruel ones that could harm Afghanis is common for the thought of the U.S. leaving. Many of the possible outcomes for the U.S. leaving can harm citizens living in Afghanistan.

Although Afghanis could be harmed if the U.S. withdrew, the U.S. would benefit from the decision. My first perspective is from Emily Miller’s wiki page, who studied the perspective, about Ismail Salami. This man is an Iranian writer, but if asked about his positioning on U.S. future involvement in Afghanistan he would answer “the U.S. should leave the war as soon as possible because of their problems with their economy that they have neglected to take care of” (Miller, Ismail Salami). Once the government can put their full attention into the weak U.S. economy, most likely it will improve which would benefit the nation. Secondly, a perspective by Leon Panetta, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, studied by Mitch Nini. Panetta believes that if all that America has put into Afghanistan succeeds and they cannot again be a safe haven for terrorists like the Taliban, “the U.S. is ensured that the Afghans will be loyal to our country again” (Nini, Leon Panetta). Since Afghanistan has many oil resources and a nice location for trade, being allies with a prosperous nation later would highly benefit the U.S. economy. A perspective is from the veterans of Foreign Wars, an organization where veterans post stories and opinions on their public website, studied by John Masters. This organization would want to withdraw troop “for economic stability and to save lives” (Master, Veterans of Foreign Wars). It is important to protect the lives of soldiers protecting Afghanis, by bringing home troops Americans will gain support since many are against the war and veterans will be safe, benefiting all Americans. Lastly, Afghanistan is known as ‘the graveyard of empires’ because many countries have been interested in its trade location and resources but failed, like the Soviet Union. By leaving soon, the U.S. can get out before they collapse and cause a repetition of history once again. In every which way, withdrawing troops from Afghanistan would benefit Americans.

In conclusion, my recommendation of pulling U.S. troops and aid out of Afghanistan within the next few years would benefit the U.S., but possibly harm Afghanis. The decision is slightly selfish now that Afghanistan is still in bad shape, but current issues that are within the nation are most significant.

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 credited •cite sources internally and in a Works Cited, some internal citation errors; WC is mostly correct--truncate web address after .com •edit language errors from writing, edited for language usage errors •post the essay on Student Recommendations done

Works Cited: - "Afghanistan News - Breaking World Afghanistan News - The New York Times." p. 1-6. // New York Times // [New York] 22 Nov. 2011. // Times Topics - The New York Times //. 15 Dec. 2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. - Brooks Mason. Hamid Karzai-President of Afghanistan, Perspectives of Afghanistan. Buchholtz/Sidor American Studies. 15 December 2011. < http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/Hamid+Karzai%2C+President+of+Afghanistan >. - Abby Wilmer. Hasan Askari Rizvi-National Security Analyst in Lahore Pakistan, Perspectives of Afghanistan. Buchholtz/Sidor American Studies. 15 December 2011. < http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/Hasa+Askari+Rizvi%2C+National+Security+Analyst >. - Elizabeth Limotta. United States Agency for International Development- USAID- in Afghanistan, Perspectives of Afghanistan. Buchholtz/Sidor American Studies. 15 December 2011. < http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/United+States+Agency+for+International+Development+USAID >. - Emily Miller. Ismail Salami, Perspectives of Afghanistan. Buchholtz/Sidor American Studies. 15 December 2011. < http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/Ismail+Salami >. - Mitch Nini. Leon Panetta, Perspective of Afghanistan. Buchholtz/Sidor American Studies. 15 December 2011. < http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/Secretary+of+Defense%2C+Leon+E.+Panetta >. - John Masters. Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Perspective of Afghanistan. Buchholtz/Sidor American Studies. 15 December 2011. < http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/Veterans+of+Foreign+Wars+%28VFW+%29 >.