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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, <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

There are many reasons why the United States is fighting a war in Afghanistan. A major reason why we became involved was because of the pursuit of Al Qaeda. After the 9/11 attacks in the U.S., we made it a distinct goal to find Al Qaeda, who had planned and carried out the attacks, so that we could punish them. In order to do this, we also had to go to war with the Taliban who were controlling Afghanistan and who were not cooperating with the U.S. in the search for Osama bin Laden. Currently we are there to help Afghanistan rebuild their economy and maintain national security. There are many ways in which we could proceed in Afghanistan. I believe that we should gradually start to remove our troops so that there is a smooth transition but the Afghans are assured of security and ongoing support of their economy. I believe that by doing this we can reduce the cost of the war, but not abandon the Afghan people. This would satisfy Americans by ending the war, but also still maintain a healthy relationship with Afghanistan.

In my opinion the war in Afghanistan is just for several reasons. One such reason is based on the theory of comparative justice. Comparative justice says that “While there may be rights and wrongs on all sides of a conflict, to overcome the presumption against the use of force, the injustice suffered by one party must significantly outweigh that suffered by the other”. The U.S. suffered greatly after the attacks of 9/11, and strong evidence showed that Al Qaeda was to blame. Al Qaeda therefore deserved punishment, and the U.S. was justified to pursue them. Another way in which this war was just is because of the idea of last resort. This applies to this war for one main reason: after the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. asked the Taliban to tell us where they were hiding Osama Bin Laden, but they refused. We asked several times but they would not cooperate. The theory of last resort says that “force may be used only after all peaceful and viable alternatives have been seriously tried and exhausted”. Because the Taliban refused to cooperate with the U.S. after we had asked numerous times, we decided to wage war on Afghanistan to force the Taliban out of power and help the Afghan people create a strong government and eventually eliminate Al Qaeda. Our war in Afghanistan has helped the Afghans in many ways. By becoming involved in this country, the U.S. and its allies have taken the Taliban out of power and helped the Afghan people form a new government. An example of how we have helped was shown in Elena’s perspective topic, which was about Wahidullah Shamhrani, who is from the Afghan Ministry of Mines. Currently this man is creating four different projects to help restore their economy. He believes that the mining industry can help his country grow economically. Another example of how our entering Afghanistan has helped the Afghans is through programs like Cash for Work (Matt Y.’s perspective topic, Christine Mulligan). This program helps give Afghans a chance to earn money and feed their families without using child labor. These advances were only possible because of how presence in Afghanistan and removal of the Taliban from power. Although we have helped Afghanistan in many ways, in the process we have also harmed America. For example, Rep. Ron Paul believes that the United States economy is weak because of our military interests in other countries. He also believes that our economy will stabilize once we leave. Another example of how Americans have been harmed is through the sacrifices of our troops. The Veterans of Foreign Wars know exactly how the troops feel. They believe that we need to leave as soon as we can because they know that our soldiers are tired and miss their families and want to come home. Another way in which America has been harmed is by the tremendous cost of our military presence there. Alain Tuppe believes that if we leave now it will cause Afghanistan to most likely undergo a major economic collapse, which means that we will have spent all our money and time there for no reason. Over the past few years the United States has spent about 4.4billlion dollars helping Afghanistan rebuild. Many believe that if we leave quickly their economy will weaken as it is still unstable. Many also believe that once we leave that they will not be able to maintain their security and that terrorism will rise again. If we gradually exit Afghanistan we can reduce the cost of the war and still support the Afghans. In my opinion my position is best because by gradually reducing the number of troops there we can please both America and Afghanistan. Americans will be happy that the war is over and that we will be able to reduce the cost to our society. The Afghans will be happy because they will still have our security and support, and they won’t feel abandoned. This will increase the chance that a stable Afghanistan can continue to exist. 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, some sources credited •cite sources internally and in a Works Cited, Internal citations are not done for all references and those that have formatting errors. The WC is mostly correct--the entries should be alphabetical and truncate the web address after .com •edit language errors from writing, edited for language usage errors •post the essay on Student Recommendations done

Works Cited: Elena M., Afghanistan’s Leaders, Wahidullah Shamhrani Afghan Ministry of Mines, Diverse Perspective on Afghanistan assignment, December 12, 2011

Matt Y., NGO’s assisting Afghanistan, Christine Mulligan, Diverse Perspective on Afghanistan assignment, December 12, 2011

Lucas S., U.S. Government: Executive & Legislative, Rep. Ron Paul, Diverse Perspective on Afghanistan assignment, December 12, 2011

John M., U.S. Personnel in Afghanistan & Pakistan, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Diverse Perspective on Afghanistan assignment, December 12, 2011

Reyna L., International Coalition Allies, Alian Tuppe French Foreign Minister, Diverse Perspective on Afghanistan assignment, December 12, 2011

//The Economist//, “Investing or a-whoring”, []

//Associated Press//, “Dozen Dead Rare Attacks on Afghan Shiites”, []

<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“How to Exit. . .the war”, by Henry Kissinger, []