Afghanistan Post-2014

For over 2 centuries, Afghanistan has known virtually no time without war. Beginning around 326 B.C. with the conquests of Alexander the Great, to the Persians, British, Russians and most recently, America and our NATO allies, Afghanistan has been cultivated into the country that it is today through a trial by fire. Regardless of this relentless onslaught of foreign military power, the Afghan people have tirelessly defended their homeland with no outside power ever being able to subdue them completely. Following the withdrawal of the Soviet Union in 1989, the country fell into civil war, torn even further apart by fiercely dedicated tribal warlords. This power vacuum led to the rise of a group called the Taliban. Led by a one eyed man

The situation in Afghanistan actually began in 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded their country. The United States funded money to the "mujahedin," or holy warriors, in the name of stopping communism. From this support, Afghanistan was able to defeat the Soviet Union in 1989. Yet the country became very unstable after the war. Political power was fluctuating often and leaders came in and out of power rapidly. Farmers resorted to growing many drugs such as poppies and marijuana and sold them around the globe. Cities were annihilated. Over five million Afghanis fled to other countries in search of a better life. When the Afghanis turned to the United States for help in rebuilding our country, we refused. This caused great anger amongst the Afghani people directed toward the United States. This also lead to Mullah Mohammod Omar, the current leader of Afghanistan, to form a ground of men to "rebuild" his country. They are now known as the Taliban. Omar's personal description is, "A simple band of dedicated youths determined to establish the laws of God on

Lastly, Afghanistan has been seen as the incubator for terrorism that has reached across the world bringing death and destruction, but lets not forget the financial impacts that each terrorist attack takes on the free market.

With the tales of these three individuals told, it is hard not to feel a sense of pity and uncertainty about Afghanistan and especially the United States’ role in Afghanistan. With the consensus of entering Afghanistan originally being to stop terrorism, throughout Gopal’s book it seems that the goal, or better yet, the idea of wiping terrorism away had certainly been lost. No longer does it seem that the United States is helping, rather that the U.S. is one of the main problems in the country. The details and facts listed in the book open a

Borders have always lead to separation, but in the era of New Imperialism European governments began to reconsider division as not merely an effect of borders but a powerful aspect of them. Many imperialist powers used a divide and conquer strategy while creating borders, and GB was certainly no exception. Whether it was intentional or not in the case of Afghanistan, GB divided the Pashtuns, the negative effects of which are still being felt today. In present-day Afghanistan, Pashtuns make up 42% of the population, they are the largest ethnic group. In present-day Pakistan, Pashtuns make up 15% of the population, making them the the second largest ethnic group. After GB separated Pashtuns, the ethnic group began to fight often within both countries

The Special Inspector-General for Afghanistan Reconstruction’s (SIGAR) quarterly report for January is a bleak read. At close to 30%, not only do the Taliban hold more Afghan territory than any time after the 2001 invasion, but "The insurgency is spreading (Afghan forces) thin, threatening rural districts in one area while carrying out ambitious attacks in more populated centers." The Taliban trifecta of high-stakes attacks in late 2015 adds weight to SIGAR’s assessment. Moreover, even before militants briefly overran Kunduz, Kandahar airport and besieged Sangin district, UN figures revealed a 19% increase in “security incidents” between August and October.

Afghanistan once served as a base for the terror group that carried out the horrific attacks of 9/11, Al Qaeda , and its leader, Osama Bin Laden. The United States invaded and since then has killed Bin Laden

Afghanistan was once a country of peace and stability. When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979 everything

Prior to the United States invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the United States was involved in Afghanistan the early 1980's. To truly understand the how our government is in this mess Afghanistan war, we must look back at the Soviet Union involvement into Afghanistan as well. In 1979, the USSR entered neighboring Afghanistan as an attempt to boost the newly established pro Soviet regime in the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul. The takeover of the country was fast: nearly 100,000 soviet soldiers took over major cities and highways in order to complete military and political control. This began a brutal, decade long invasion by the Soviet Union to subdue the Afghan civil war and maintain a friendly and socialist government on their southern border.

The United States’ role in Afghanistan began after the attack on September 11th. The U.S. entered Afghanistan with the clear purpose of retaliating for the attacks against the U.S. and preventing Al Qaeda from having a safe zone in Afghanistan. The degree and nature of US retaliation and further intervention in Afghanistan was governed by an adherence to ideologies developed in response to policies of the Clinton administration (Afghanistan, page 48). One such belief was the administration’s distaste for nation-building. Military operations in the former Yugoslavia and Haiti during the Clinton administration served to solidify the Bush administration’s position on the

The modern nation of Afghanistan, as we come to know it today emerged during the eighteenth century. Pashtun tribes in response to the depletion of the Indian and Persian empires within their lands began to band together to form its very own nation, the nation of Afghanistan. “Afghanistan has been a strategic prize for foreign empires for more than two hundred years. The British, Russians the United States have all fought across its inhospitable terrain, in conflicts variously ruthless, misguided, and bloody. This violent history is littered with broken promises and underestimations” (Loyn 1). Many other nations have tried to conquer this rugged region of the world. All of which involved great nations far more superior in weapons and technology than Afghanistan.

RAJIV CHANDRASEKARAN’S LITTLE AMERICA: THE WAR WITHIN THE WAR FOR AFGHANISTAN is about NATO’s counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan since 2009. Published in 2012.

Advantageously by putting Nuristanis’ in the military hierarchy, it anticipated that Nuristans’ would not initiate rebellions against the government since the sons of Nuristani elites were now serving in its army and provided a good means to discourage any opposition from this region in the future. In May of 1978, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) took power and a successful revolt by the Nuristani people took place until the Soviet intervention in 1979. Their success inspired others throughout the country to rise up and bleed the Soviet Union to death through thirteen years of war. The straw that broke the Soviet Union's back sprouted in Nuristân, and we must acknowledge the pivotal historical role that the Nuristânis played in nurturing the seed. (Nuristan) Since 1978, Afghanistan has transitioned to and from multiple government control from Communism, to the corruption of democratic parties such as PDPA, the Islamic State of Afghanistan, Taliban, and now the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The years have been filled with conflict, corruption, and outsider

The Soviets had been helping Afghanistan since the 1920s to be a buffer state and to stop the influence of Iran and Pakistan, which were backed by the United States, later when Iran got a new leader it resulted in a challenge for the Soviets and Communism, this made the Soviets and Afghans hate each other. In 1979 Afghans rebels and the soviets started a war with each other. Soviet leaders wanted to kill the afghan leader and replace him with a new one that supports communism. The Soviets having over 75,00 people were still not able to take down the Afghan rebels. Although Soviets tried to stop this from happening, the Islamic groups in Pakistan which were backed by the United States helped the Afghans get weapons. With the war going on for many more years in 1984 The United States president released a ground to air missiles called Afghan freedom fighters. These missiles were one of the causes for the war to end in 1989, with 20,000 soviet deaths and 1,000,000 afghan deaths, The

The current problem that is occurring in Afghanistan is the fact that American soldiers are over at Afghanistan right now. After the 9/11 attack, President George W. Bush puts together a plan to attack Afghanistan. America sends over a warning, to either turn over Osama bin Laden, the man in charge of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, or we 'll bomb you. After Afghanistan refused to turn him over, due to lack of evidence that he was in charge of the 9/11 attacks, America, with the help of it’s allies, countries like the United Kingdom and the Northern Alliance, bombed Afghanistan. Through all of this madness, Osama bin Laden escaped. After all the stuff that just happened in Afghanistan, President George W. Bush called for America to “reconstruct Afghanistan”. This would include going over there, building a new government, and helping the people of Afghanistan to live a nonviolent life. After a decade of America being in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden being killed, and two new presidents in Afghanistan, we are left with a big problem, American soldiers are still in Afghanistan, and we have no idea when they will be able to come back. We can not just take some helicopters, fly over to Afghanistan, pick up our troops, and fly back to America. The reason why we can’t is because Afghanistan’s government is too unstable. Another problem with American troops being stuck in Afghanistan are that the Taliban