John+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="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">The War in Afghanistan

===<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> On September 11th, 2001, the United States was attack by two hijacked planes. The hijackers were part of a terrorist organization called al-Qaeda and with the planes; they attacked our Twin Towers in New York City and the pentagon in Washington, D.C. So, we attacked the al-Qaeda in their home country; Afghanistan. We have been fighting this war for over a decade and I believe we should get out of Afghanistan as soon as possible. ===

===<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">The United States’ justification for attacking them was the just war theory of right intention, which says that, “ <span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">[f]orce may be used only in a truly just cause and solely for that purpose—correcting a suffered wrong is considered a right intention, while material gain or maintaining economies is not,” (Criteria for a Just War). We also attacked them based on the just war theory of just cause. The just cause theory basically says that, “[f]orce may be used only to correct a grave, public evil, i.e., aggression or massive violation of the basic human rights of whole populations,” (Criteria For a Just War). We followed the theory of just cause to the letter because we were, “[correcting] a grave, public evil,” (Criteria for a Just War). ===

===<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">I believe that talking the troops out of Afghanistan will help the Afghanis more than it will hurt them. If we leave Afghanistan, the people will, of course, be less controlled than if we were there. However, taking our military out of the war allows us to have more money to help their economy. Arat I., who researched Peter Galbraith’s perspective, says that, “…America can leave Afghanistan whenever, and it won’t make that big of a difference,” (Arat I., Galbraith). Galbraith, an Ambassador to the UN, is saying that the Afghani people will be unaffected if we disperse from Afghanistan. Arabella M researched the opinion of Ashraf Ghani, who is the Afghan government’s transition chief. She says that Ashraf would say that, “ <span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">[a]s long as the United States supported them economically enough so that they can continue to "build up" then he would be fine with them leaving when they planned to,” (Arabella M., Ashraf Ghani). He is saying that although we would be leaving the country physically, we would still be helping the people of Afghanistan economically. Leaving the war as soon as possible would mean that we would stay, “… in Afghanistan until the government can gain legitimacy and the army can provide protection,” (Jacob B., Zoelick). Robert B. Zoelick is the president of World Bank and he was researched by Jacob B. Zoelick implies that we leave the war when Afghanistan is good and ready to support themselves. This would be good for the citizens because they could be protected financially and physically. ===

===<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">The war has hurt Americans more than it has helped them. Emily Miller quoted Ismail Salami, an Iranian writer and Middle East expert, when she writes that this is, “a war which started in vain, a war which was never won and a war which never brought Americans safety,” (Emily M., Salami). It has never brought us safety because we have economic instability and also because many people in the war have very high risks of death every day. Families with soldiers overseas also never feel safe because of them knowing that they will most likely lose a mother, father, daughter, or son every day. I believe that if the U.S. leaves Afghanistan militarily, these feelings would be reversed and we can feel safe again. I researched the VFW, an organization which only overseas veterans who have honorable discharge can be a part of, supports going home. They support leaving Afghanistan because the people apart of the organization know what it is like to be overseas and they would like other soldiers to come home and reduce the death toll (VFW). <span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Lara Olsen, a researcher at the Center for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">, believes that, “the United States should leave Afghanistan as soon as the country is stable,” (Corbin D., Olsen). This would help Americans because the sooner we leave, the less death of our soldiers there are and also the less death of Afghani civilians. ===

===<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">My decision to leave Afghanistan as soon as possible (when the country is stable) is the right decision for many reasons. The first reason is because it would take the American troops out of harm’s way. The second reason is because it would help our economy in that we would not be spending as much money on warfare. As stated by T.J. Kennedy and Mrs. Sidor, “modern warfare is expensive,” (Mrs. Sidor). My last reason for ending the war as soon as possible is because the Afghan citizens would be safe; Not only economically but in the idea of war as well. ===

===<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Corbin D., Lara Olsen, http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/Report+on+NGOs--Lara+Olsen%2C ===

===<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Arabella M., Ashraf Ghani, http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/Ashraf+Ghani%2C+Chairman%2C+Afghan+Government+Transition ===

===<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Jacob B., Robert B. Zoelick, http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/Robert+B.+Zoellick%2C+President+of+World+Bank ===

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, sources credited •cite sources internally and in a Works Cited, done--but WC has formatting errors •edit language errors from writing, edited for language usage errors •post the essay on Student Recommendations done