Michael+W.--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="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">We are fighting in Afghanistan because of the constant threat to America and the Afghan citizens under the Taliban and Al Qaeda. We first entered Afghanistan because of the 9/11 World Trade Center/Pentagon attacks in 2001. I believe we should continue to fight in Afghanistan because of the possibility of anything like those attacks ever happening on American soil again. We must prevent these attacks by taking down Al Qaeda. "Al Qaeda seems to find a way to reconstitute itself." (Senator John McCain-Arizona) If we were to leave now Al Qaeda would just build back up and plan another attack.

Even Afghan leaders want the US to stay and protect their people from the Taliban. "Karzai appreciates the US help, and certainly doesn’t want them to leave their any time soon." (Hamid Karzai Wiki Page) He feels Afghanistan needs support for at least another decade. " I believe that if Ghani was to answer the question: When should the United States leave Afghanistan?, he would say that he would want them to leave in an orderly fashion, but replace the military presence with an economic one." (Ashraf Ghani Wiki Page) Ghani wants us to leave but he still thinks they need our help because Afghanistan's economy is down the drain. He thinks with US asistance, Afghanistan can rebuild its economy.

Many people in the Us believe we need to stay to protect the Afghans too. General John R. Allen believes we need to leave in 2014 but thinks Afghanistan needs protection and help at restoring rule. “We will support the Afghan government as it strengthens governance and rule of law" (Allen) Vali Nasr, a professor at Fletcher School, believes we need to stay in order to protect the Afghan people. “[T]he Afghan population is now very worried that Taliban are surging” (Nasr) President Obama said he was going to pull the troops out but he didn't because he decided to keep them in for further protection. "President Obama would most likely answer the question "when should the United States leave Afghanistan?" by saying, like he has said many times before, that he is planning on keeping the troops in Afghanistan until at least 2014." (Barack Obama Wiki Page) The military needs to keep fighting in Iraq until the Afghan people are safe and law is restored.

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, 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, not 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. summary made • organize your ideas in extended power paragraphs, competently done •establish the credibility of sources, not all sources credited •cite sources internally and in a Works Cited, done but some errors and omissions in both interal citations and WC •edit language errors from writing, minor spelling, grammar and other language usage errors •post the essay on Student Recommendations done

Waltz, Jill. "Barack Obama- President of the United States." //Wikispaces//. Wiki, 12 Dec. 2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. <http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/President+Barack+Obama>.

Mitiska, Michael. "Vali Nasr." //Wikispaces//. Wiki, 11 Dec. 2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. <http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/Vali+Nasr>.

Watkins, Michael. "John McCain." //Wikispaces//. Wiki, 7 Dec. 2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. <http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/Senator+John+McCain>.

Brunner, Bobby. "General John R. Allen." //Wikispaces//. Wiki, 12 Dec. 2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. <http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/General+John+R.+Allen%2C+commander+NATO>.

Mason, Brooks. "Hamid Karzai-President of Afghanistan." //Wikispaces//. Wiki, 10 Dec. 2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. <http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/Hamid+Karzai%2C+President+of+Afghanistan>.

Mayrer, Bella. "Ashraf Ghani, Chairman, Afghan Government Transition." //Wikispaces//. Wiki, 12 Dec. 2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. <http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/Ashraf+Ghani%2C+Chairman%2C+Afghan+Government+Transition>.