American support for the war is running low, but the United States should stay in the war in order to prevent Al-Qaeda and ISIS from getting stronger, facilitating their efforts in worldwide terror. Over 2,000 American soldiers have died in Afghanistan, but the efforts in preventing worldwide terrorism in our nation has decreased immensely. What would happen if the troops were all pulled out of Afghanistan now? Would terrorism increase to an all-time high? Absolutely, without a doubt Al-Qaeda and ISIS would grow stronger and 9/11 would not have to be the only day we remember in infamy.
"The stakes are very high," U.S. Gen. John Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan, said recently. "The fact that we were attacked on the 11th of September (2001) is a direct line relationship between what happened on that day and what could happen again if we don't get this right." The public is not usually informed well or just given the sugar coated news reports about the war, but the fact that a United States General is saying that an act is imminent if we do not crush the enemy is scary because President Obama is supposed to extract most of the fighting force and the troops training the Afghan army and security forces out. U.S. Gen. John Allen goes on saying that Al-Qaeda is a “potent”. People tend to soften the type of people these radical Muslims are. They have a monstrous amount of money, support, contacts and countries that are willing to harbor these terrorists so they could continue to commit these heinous crimes.
Stephen M. Walt argues that the United States does not have any real reason to spend their time and effort in Afghanistan. Also, the job of creating a democracy is not the concern of the United States anymore but of...
... middle of paper ...
...fight anymore. The United States must keep fighting to protect the great citizens of this free country. Patience is necessary, and American lives and those good people count on us fighting Al-Qaeda till they are eliminated.
Works Cited
Carmen Gentile. (September 19, 2012). USA Today. In USA Today. Retrieved November 25, 2013, from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-09-19/afghanistan-taliban-united-states/57808974/1.
Sohel Uddin. (July 13, 2013). World News. In NBC News. Retrieved November 25, 2013, from http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/13/19439164-afghanistans-women-wary-as-taliban-creeps-back-into-political-life.
Chris Mason. (April 4, 2012). NY Times. In NY Times. Retrieved November 25, 2013, from http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/04/03/should-the-us-leave-afghanistan-now/learn-the-lessons-of-vietnam-out-now.
The aftermath — No More Vietnams — is well-covered in Appy’s work. The No More Vietnam mantra is usually presented as avoiding quagmires, focusing on quick, sharp wins. Instead, Appy shows politicians have manipulated No More Vietnams into meaning greater secrecy (think Central America in the 1980’s), more over-the-top justifications (“You don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud”) and an emphasis on keeping American deaths inside the acceptable limits of the day to tamp down any public anti-war sentiment.
The years 1961 to 1972 saw the American involvement in Vietnam. For a little over ten years, America sent its sons off to fight for an unknown cause in a country they knew little about. When the United States finally pulled out of Southeast Asia, many were left scratching their heads. Over 58,000 young men died without really knowing why. Although it is a work of fiction, Tim O’Brien’s Going After Cacciato expresses the views of those who spent their lives in the jungles of Vietnam.
In October 2000, Meena Gardizi was forced to flee her home in Kabul, Afghanistan because of death threats and persecution from by the Taliban. These threats were made not only to her, but also to her brother and sister-in-law because of Ms. Gardizi. Ms. Gardizi left behind her beloved brother, the only biological family she had left, and his wife in attempts to distance herself from them for their own safety. As a young woman, Ms. Gardizi could not and can not protect herself from the Taliban and their zealots. The government cannot keep her safe. Ms. Gardizi seeks asylum in the United States so that she will not be forced to return to her country, where the Taliban will almost certainly find and murder her.
Raymond, Michael W. "Imagined Responses to Vietnam: Tim O'Brien's Going After Cacciato. Critique 24 (Winter 1983).
Eikenberry, Karl and David Kennedy. “America and Their Military, Drifting Apart,” The New York Times. (March 2013). http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/opinion/americans-and-their-military-drifting-apart.html?_r=0 (accessed 9 FEB 14).
Our military campaigns in Afghanistan eliminated a regime that supported terrorism and other violent groups. Today in Afghanistan there is no regime and the country is rebuilding it self from the ruins of Soviet war. John Ashcroft who is now the famous man on TV is probably the only one who takes the problem seriously. He said that he wants to check for people who have connections with the Alquida and its cells. But some people say it’s unconstitutional to do that, but in 1700’s or even 1800’s terrorists did not attack America. That means that our finding fathers did not had to deal with Ottoman Empire nor their attacks because we were protected by oceans. Even in the old days constitution was not a factor for some people to do something immoral or illegal.
"The Taliban." Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Gale Cengage Learning, 2010. Web. 6 Nov. 2011. .
In My Forbidden Face, Latifa explains how the Taliban are waging a cultural war against Western values. The Taliban’s goal in Kabul is to secure the environment where purity of people, especially of women, may be sacred again. However, in the book, Latifa discusses many issues that the people from Kabul experience at the hands of the Taliban such as the plight of women and men’s struggles, their views on news, media, and art, people’s education, and their religion. Throughout the book, the methods that the Taliban reinforce are very unreasonable, which leads to violence.
The United States Military though has problems in the country and has been having these problems since the invasion. Training Afghan forces and fighting the Taliban has not been working and is not efficient. We are trying to win the hearts and minds of the people but when the Taliban are blowing up schools and hospitals, winning those hearts and minds is a challenge. “Americans are used to be successful and these wars are not” announces Mark Lytle (Hampson). Americans are being worn down and soon will be on the verge of giving up, something Al Qaeda wants, and we are letting our enemy win this war. Afghanistan though also has ethnic problems. There are several divisions in Afghanistan, different tribes different ethnic background. The concept of majority rule has not been sitting well. The Afghan Government is corrupt and is not efficient enough to rule effectively. “The sooner we accept that Afghanistan ...
"We have to start treating Vietnam as a country and not a war. It'll take the old age and death of all veterans before it stops being our 51st state (Alvarez, 2013)." In the story "The Man I Killed", Tim O'Brien, who served in the U.S military in Vietnam, describes the guilt many American soldiers felt about the atrocities they committed in Vietnam. "Vietnam is not an appendage of America. That sort of thinking got us into the mess in the first place. Were bound together by some painful history, but it’s not our liver or our appendix- it's a country (Alvarez, 2013)."
Before, it was a “picturesque.” It was not only a popular honeymoon destination, but Swat Valley was known for it’s music and tolerance towards their people. (Taliban Gun Down Girl Who Spoke Up for Women’s Right) But in 2007, everything changed. Swat Valley was stricken with the Taliban’s new, harsh rules.
In 1996, the Taliban took control of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. A report by the U.S. Department of State describes that this takeover was done in a very brutal and violent manner and the Taliban left the proof of their victory hanging in the streets of the city for over a week (par. 2). In Jan Goodwin’s article, Buried Alive, it is written that the men who are in charge of enforcing the laws of the Taliban are called the Department of the Propagation of Virtue and the Suppression of Vice; these men also punish citizens who disobey the laws. The majority of this group is made up of fifteen year old boys carrying machine guns, but also consists of men arme...
It is somehow strange for today’s reader to find out that the situation with America’s foreign affairs hasn’t changed much. As some clever people have said, “The History book on the shelf is always repeating itself.” Even after nineteen years, Americans think of themselves as citizens of the strongest nation in the world. Even after the September the 11th. Even after Iraq. And Afghanistan.
Along with the financial costs, there is human cost with the loss of life of civilians, Canadian soldiers. The invasion of Afghanistan is only a short term solution to a bigger problem. When Canada and other nations leave the country, the Taliban and the warlord tribes will continue to insight fear on the Afghan citizens (Endersby, 2011). Conclusion Canada’s involvement has brought about a continuous debate on whether or not they should be in Afghanistan fighting a war that is half a world away. The events of September 11, 2001 in the United States reinforced the need to fight terrorism on a global scale.
BUMILLER, ELISABETH. "Letting Women Reach Women In Afghan War." New York Times 07 Mar. 2010: