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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 •draw supporting information from the articles studied in class which are posted on Moodle, •wrap up the essay by restating the key reasons why your position is the best way for the U.S. to proceed in Afghanistan. •organize your ideas in extended power paragraphs, •establish the credibility of sources, •cite sources internally and in a Works Cited, •edit language errors from writing, •post the essay on Student Recommendations

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For ten long years now, starting in September of 2001, the United States has been involved in the War of Afghanistan. The United States’ initial reason for getting involved came after the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 by Al-Qaeda members. Since then, the U.S. has, according to the New York Times, “succeeded in dislodging Al-Qaeda and removing the Taliban from power, but not in eradicating either group” (NYT), so fighting continues to take place as the Taliban try to regain their power. As the war continues on and The United States remains involved in the effort to stabilize the area, people debate on how the U.S. should proceed in Afghanistan.

When it comes to answering the question: How should the United States proceed in Afghanistan?, I feel as if the United States should keep their goal of leaving by 2014, if possible to do so smoothly. Ten years of war have gone by, billions of dollars have been spent, and many lives have been lost in this war without many great accomplishments, besides the dislodging of some Al-Qaeda members and a small sense of security for some Afghanis. Joseph Stiglitz, a noble prize winning economist, states that out of all the money being sent to Afghanistan by the U.S., “1 in 4 dollars is wasted” (Stiglitz). Why should we stay in Afghanistan when we are throwing so much money away?

Overall, in terms of a just war, I would describe the Afghan war to be just in the sense that the United States entered with the intention of dislodging Al-Qaeda, who committed an evil act of terrorism on U.S. soil (jus ad bellum- Proportionality). Also, I find the war to be fit into the jus ad bellum category of just cause because the U.S. entered to protect the human rights of the Afghanis, and to try to stabilize Afghanistan. On the other hand, even though the U.S. entered the war with good intentions, as time passes, the involvement seems to be losing value and according to Madeline Bunting, from an op-ed article in //The Hindu//, the Afghan war has “turned out to involve a lot more endurance than was ever envisaged, and precious little freedom” (Bunting). With this said, I feel as if the United States should try to help stabilize Afghanistan as much as possible, but at the same time should try to wrap up their current involvement of the war and aim to leave in 2014 as planned.

Considering the initial involvement of the United States in the Afghan war to be just, Afghanis seem to have benefitted slightly these past ten years from America’s presence. Slowly, year by year, Afghanistan seems to be building up a more stable government with more rights given to women and a safer environment for all. People like Kali Nasar, a professor at the Fletcher School and former Senior Advisor to the Special Representative for Afghanistan, wants the U.S. to stay in Afghanistan because “the Afghan population is now very worried that the Taliban are surging” (The World Today), and the U.S. military is needed for people in Afghanistan to feel safe. Nasar thinks Afghanis feel safer from the United States’ presence and are worried that as soon as the U.S. decides to leave, the Taliban will invade again. Next, since the U.S. is already involved in the War, Hassan Askar Rizvi, National Security Analyst in Lahore, Pakistan, believes that the U.S. “support is needed to protect citizens” (Abby W). Rizvi feels that if the U.S. and NATO are to leave in a hurry, the Taliban will overwhelm the Afghan army and police, so the best current solution to the problem, in his opinion, is for the U.S. to stay and protect Afghanis until they can once again fend for themselves. Finally, Karl F. Inderfurth, // Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for South Asian affairs from 1997 to 2001, and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says “ // despite the daunting security, economic and political challenges facing Afghanistan, close to half of those polled (46 percent) say the country is moving in the right direction” (New York Times). This shows that the U.S. has made a positive impact in Afghanistan with people seeing progression in their lives, however just because some Afghanis feel this way, does not mean that most Americans feel the same.

Although, the Afghanis may be feeling slightly more secure after the United States involvement, most Americans do not seem to agree with the U.S. involvement in the war. A majority of Americans feel that too much money is being or has been spent on the war (about $440 billion) and now they want to pull out troops from Afghanistan by 2014 if possible. One way Wahdullah Shahrani, Afghanistan Minister of Mines, believes this can happen, is if mining becomes popular in Afghanistan over the next few years because “Afghanistan currently has ‘billions of dollars’ worth of copper and gold deposits in four areas of the country that together are roughly the size of the Grand Canyon” (Richman). If mining were to begin in the country, it is hoped that the new industry would provide jobs and money so the U.S. can leave in 2014, and no more American money would have to be spent on Afghanistan. President Barack Obama of the United States agrees with the majority of Americans in saying that U.S. troops should be taken out of Afghanistan and has started an effort to do so with at least “10,000 troops [to be removed] from Afghanistan by the end of the year and another 23,000 by summer of 2012” (Sciutto). President Obama calls this act the beginning, but not the end, of our effort to wind down this war, because he realizes Afghanistan is still going to be a troubled country in need of some assistance, dealing with relations, once troops are removed, and the U.S. will still be politically, just not militarily involved in the conflict once this happens. Lastly, Jake Diliberto, the co-founder of Veterans Rethinking America, says, "The blood of American troops is on the line. Join me and the veterans in asking President Obama not to escalate troops in Afghanistan" (Blain F.- Wiki). These veterans feel that America cannot improve the situation in Afghanistan with increased troops and we are causing more violence due to our presence so they also agree with the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

I believe that the best way to proceed in Afghanistan is by slow withdrawal of troops while at the same time, helping Afghanistan to find ways to make itself a more stable country. The best case scenario, in my opinion, would be for the U.S. to be completely out of Afghanistan by 2014, but I understand this goal may be hard to reach. As foreign forces begin to leave the country, “The United States and other nations [vow]. . . to keep supporting Afghanistan’s fragile economy” (The Associated Press). It is clear that foreign countries wish for Afghanistan to get out of this mess, and with this said, I believe that in these next few years, Afghanistan will be able to grow economically and politically enough for the U.S. to leave the War in 2014.

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, done, but minor errors •edit language errors from writing, edited for language usage errors •post the essay on Student Recommendations done

__Works Cited:__

Bunting, Madeline. “The Afghan War and the Myth of Women’s Rights”. October 4, 2011. [|www.thehindu.com].

Stilglitz, Joseph. Blimes, Linda. “Americas Costly War Machine”. Article discussed in class. December 13, 2011.

Inderfurth, Karl F. “Afghans in Transition”. N.P. [|__http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/opinion/afghans-in-transition.html__]

Abby W. Hasan-Askari Rizvi National Security Analyst in Lahore, Pakistan. Wiki page. http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com

N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2011. <[]>.

Sciutto, Jim, Mary Bruce, and Devin Dwyer. "Obama Orders Start to US TroopWithdrawal From Afghanistan." //www.abcnews.com//. ABC News, 22 June 2011. Web.11 Dec. 2011. < []

Blain F. Veterans for Rethinking Afghanistan Wiki page. http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com

Riechmann, Deb. "Afghanistan Opens Bids for Gold, Copper Deposits to Generate Revenue for War-torn Nation." //680 news//. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2011. <[]>.

The Associated Press. “U.S., Others Vow Support For Afghanistan Post-Troops”. December 5, 2011. []