Gigi+F.--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:

Post Recommendation Here

 The United States is fighting in a war to help improve the overall standards in Afghanistan and in 2001, the Al-Qaeda issued an attack on the United States on September 11. This caused President Bush to declare war against the Al-Qaeda and "...Bush went after Osama bin Laden [Al-Qaeda] and his gang following 9/11" (Neuharth 1),and to help protect them from the Taliban. The United States should stay in Afghanistan for a little while longer until we feel like their government, military and economy is stable enough that it can stand on its own. There should be no set date of when we need to leave Afghanistan because we never know what could come up in the future that would affect our process.

The U.S's involvement in Afghanistan makes it a Just War because we had a last resort to go to war. When Al-Qaeda attacked us on September 11, in our own country, we had no choice but to go to war and protect our country and fight the middle easterns who had threatened our country, but we had also wanted our enemies to feel the pain that had devastated us. This thought process shoes comparitive justice: when a country does wrong to you, you deserve to hit back. Revenge was a main reason why why got into this war but once we began to fight our views changed and realized that we needed to help protect the innocent civilians of Aghanistan. Also, the United States is helping Afghanistan by protecting civilians from the Taliban and improving their military to make the people of Afghanistan feel safe. Afghanistan can be viewed as a just war because of the United States' intention of restoring stability and safety to the government and people.

Elena M. studied Wahidullah Shahrani who is the Afghanistan Minister of Mines. Shahrani is in the process of creating projects to help the Afghanistan economy that has been devastated for a very long time (Elena M.) Shahrani realizes the minerals that Afghanistan relies on, for example the large amount of copper and gold deposits which makes us believe that in the future their economy will be stupendous. But if the U.S. is not there to protect against the Taliban then the Taliban would would take over this rich materialand give it to a corupt government and be used for all the wrong reasons, sending the Afghanistan economy into downfall. If the U.S. continues to help secure safety and stability, these deposits can help Afghanistan out of the economic troubles they've been in. John R. Allen, Commander of the International Security Assistance Force, has the mind set that U.S. should stay involved "however long it takes for the Afghanistan government to become a more stable and less corrupt government (Bobby B.)." He bellieves that the Taliban will come back and that U.S. needs to stay and protect Afghans from future attacks and help improve the Afghan military so that when we do leave, they will be able to defend themselves without the aid from the United States.

 Secretary of defense, Leon Panetta, studied by Mitch N., believes the progess that we have made in Afghanistan is due to our new long and enduring relationship. We've brought the forces in, saved lives, and done all we could to make a stable government. These relations will benefit the U.S. in the future because if we end up in small wars in the Middle East, then we can recieve aid from Afghanistan. Panetta believes this relationship is benefitting both the U.S. and Afghanistan. Lexie M. researched Talat Masood, a famous Pakistani politcian and found that he also agreed that relationships needed to be worked out before this war comes to an end. "He thinks that when the US and Pakistan get along again, is when we can start to ease troops out of the Middle East (Lexie M.)." Cameron Munter, studied by Lydia E., is the Ambassador to Pakistan and believes that the relationship between the United States and Pakistan needs to improve and strengthen. Having these relations will increase our chances for aid from this country. The better relations we have with any country will benefit the U.S. in many ways.

Another reason why we need to stay in Afghanistan is to help protect from religious attacks. For example, a suicide bomber attcked a group of Shiites and killed at least 54 people but the problem was that this attack was religiously motivated and causes a sense of fear in the Shiites. The United States went into Afghanistan because of the 9/11 was one of the most devastating days in America's history. President Karzai expresses that the Shiite attack had the same affect on most Afghanistans. Karzai said that "the first time that on such an important religious day in Afghanistan terrorism of that horrible nature is taking place (Associated Press)." If there are attacks happening while the U.S. is in Afghanistan, then what would happen when we left. This gives us another reason to be involved in this war.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The United States should not leave the country of Afghanistan until we know that they have a stable economy, strong military forces, and power that is within the right set of hands. We need to stay until Americans feel that the Afghans can govern themsleves in a democratic way.

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. abrupt 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, most cited internally, truncate web address after .com •edit language errors from writing, edited for language usage errors •post the essay on Student Recommendations done

Associated Press. "Dozens Dead in Rare Attacks on Afghan Shiites." //<span style="background-color: #fff9e5; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">NPR //. N.p., 6

Dec. 2011. Web. 16 Dec. 2011. <[]

dozens-dead-in-rare-attacks-on-afghan-shiites>.

B., Bobby. "General John R. Allen." //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">BuchholtzSidorAmericanStudies //. N.p., n.d.

Web. 16 Dec. 2011. <http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/

General+John+R.+Allen%2C+commander+NATO>.

E., Lydia. "Cameron Munter." //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">BuchholtzSidorAmericanStudies //. N.p., n.d. Web. 15

Dec. 2011. <http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/

Cameron+Munter%2C+U.S.+Ambassador+to+Pakistan>.

M., Elena. "Wahidullah Shahrani." //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">BuchholtzSidorAmericanStudies //. N.p., n.d. Web.

16 Dec. 2011. <http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/

Wahidullah+Shahrani%2C+Afghan+Ministry+of+Mines>.

M., Lexie. "Talat Masood." //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">BuchholtzSidorAmericanStudies //. N.p., n.d. Web. 16

Dec. 2011. <http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/

Talat+Masood%2C+Pakistani+political+commentator>.

N., Mitch. "Leon Panetta." //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">BuchholtzSidorAmericanStudies //. N.p., n.d. Web. 16

Dec. 2011. <http://buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com/

Secretary+of+Defense%2C+Leon+E.+Panetta>.