Michael+M.--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

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Michael Mitiska <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Buchholtz/Sidor <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">American Studies Exam Essay <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">15 December 2011 <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">How should we proceed in Afghanistan? <span style="color: black; font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> The United States went into Afghanistan to protect the people from al-Qaida and the Taliban. I think the United States needs to stay in Afghanistan past their 2014 deadline until Afghanistan’s government, economy and military are set up and are stable enough to work and protect their country. Once they feel like they are becoming self directed then the United States should set up a new set date to leave like the 2014 date set up at the moment.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> The war in Afghanistan can be considered a just and an un-just war. I personal think the war was a just war and follows the Just war Criteria. The two criteria for a just war are Jus ad bellum, the right to go to war, and Jus in Bello, the right to stay at war. Two criteria under Just ad bellum are last resort and right intensions. "After the attack on the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, President George Bush gave the Taliban an ultimatum to hand over Mr. Bin Laden. When it refused, The United States joined forces with rebel groups that had never accepted Taliban rule..."(New York Times Topics). We gave them the chance to hand him over and when he didn’t we went in to kill him and protect many people. America also went in to protect the citizens from the terrorism in this region of the world. This shows that we had the right intensions. It is even truer because going in with the right intensions means that you aren’t going in for economical benefits and according to an article titled Investing or a – Whoring? From the Economist says that America has “spent $440 billion since 2001” in Afghanistan. We went in to protect the people and insure the safety of the country while we were looking for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Because my plan in Afghanistan is to stay there for an extended period of time to stabilize the country, the other part of the Just War criteria, Jus in Bello, applies. There are three criteria to this, one of them being Military necessity. After our military stepped in, the Taliban were feared and left. If we were to leave now the Taliban would just end up walking right in and taking over. I believe that looking at all of these criteria; the war is just because there are many more just things than unjust things in this war.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> There are three big reasons why American has to stay in Afghanistan. All have to do with the protection of the citizens and the country. The first is to set up a strong military. In setting up a strong military, they will be able to hold off enemies and protect everyone in the country. An article from the associated press titled U.S., Others Vow Support for Afghanistan Post-Troops said that Afghanistan “need[s] to focus more on security in the future”. Once a strong military is in place everything else can begin to grow inside their protection. To ensure the protection of the Afghanis we should leave once “the Afghanistan Police and armed forces can enforce laws” (Bobby’s Wiki). This leads us into the second reason to stay in Afghanistan which is to set up a stable government. We need to set it up and make sure their government is running smoothly before we leave so that “they don’t get over run and taken advantage because of a brand new government” (Michael M.’s Wiki). The last reason is to get their economy in the right steps, which will come with a strong military and a strong and stable government. At this moment, according to Investing or a – Whorning published by The Economist, Afghanistan’s economy is so bad that their “exports for [only] 2.5% of their GDP” and if we were to leave them now “it could half their GDP” (New York Times). Before the United States or any other country leaves Afghanistan we need to make sure they have a stable government and strong military so they can “Build up their own economy and have a civil place for the people of Afghanistan [to live]” (Elizabeth’s Wiki).

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> This war has affected both the United States and Afghanistan in different ways. The united states has been affected because it costs a ton for us and it is taking forever. The war has cost the United States, like I said before, $440 million since 2001. Every day we spend “12 million Euros in Afghanistan” (Madeleine). Madeleine Buntin also wrote in her article The Afghan war and the myth of women's rights that this has been “America’s longest war…..longer than the 2 world wars combined”. The War has also affected Afghanistan and all of its citizens over the years of our help. Afghanistan believes that our help has benefited them greatly and they have become stronger in their military, government, and economy. Karzai, the Afghanistan President even said in the associated Press article that he believes “they need help for another decade”. If they didn’t think that our help has benefited them then they wouldn’t want our help but this is a promising statement by their president and it sounds like we have helped. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> I believe that Americans should stay in Afghanistan to help set up their government, military and economy. If we want to change Afghanistan’s economy we need to fix a big problem they have. “1 out of every 4 dollars that goes to Afghanistan is wasted” ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Linda J Bilmes <span style="color: black; font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">). And if we were to leave Afghanistan without setting these up, “it [would] go back to where it was in the 90’s” (NYT). Never the less if we stay in there for 2 more years or 10 more years we aren’t losing that many lives but we are saving millions of innocent Afghanis lives.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Works Cited:

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">"Aid Agencies In Afghanistan Fears Reversals." New York Nimes: n. pag. newyorktimes.com. Web. 15 Dec. 2011

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">"Afghans Say Aid Needed for Years to Come." New York Nimes: n. pag. newyorktimes.com. Web. 15 Dec. 2011

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">B, Bobby. "General John R. Allen." //U.S Military//. 2011. //BuchholtzSidorAmericanStudies//. Web. 15 Dec. 2011.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Bilmes, Linda J., and Joseph E. Stigletz. "America's costly war machine." //Los// //Angeles Times//. N.p., 18 Sept. 2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. <http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/18>

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Bunting, Madeleine. "The Afghan war and the myth of women's rights." //The Hindu// 4 Oct. 2011, OP-ED ed.: n. pag. //www.thehindu.com//. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. []

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">"Investing or a-Whoring?" //The Economist//: n. pag. //BuchholtzSidorAmericanStudies.web// Web. 15 Dec. 2011.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">L, Elizabeth. "U.S Personel in Afghanistan and Pakistan." // BuchholtzSidorAmericanStudies //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">. 2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2011.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">M, Michael. "Vali Nasr." // Think Tanks/ Academia //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">. 2011. //BuchholtzSidorAmericanStudies//. Web. 15 Dec. 2011..

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Sidor. "Criteria for a Just War." //American Studies//. Print

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, 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, most sources credited

•cite sources internally and in a Works Cited, Some internal citations have formatting errors; WC is almost perfect :)

•edit language errors from writing, minor spelling, grammar and other language usage errors

•post the essay on Student Recommendations done