Afghanistan War Research Paper

Due to past events, the Afghan government is now struggling to keep up with their citizens’ problems with living there. Bombing, wars, harassment, feminism, and abuse have been some of the main topics of bad events in the last few years in Afghanistan. Dystopia is a society that can be characterized with extreme hunger, poverty, misery, and the imbalance among the people; the Taliban taking over was the cause of how Afghanistan is still dystopian today. When one analyzes Ashraf Ghani’s choice to allow the Taliban to form, and the impacts the Taliban are still having on the people, one can realize how important genres of literature can be to educate the world about this dystopian

In response to the September 11 attacks, the United States should declare war on the responsible group. As a nation, we should do only the actions that bring about the best consequences, and the best consequences would occur by bringing the responsible group to justice. In this case, killing the Taliban and its supporters is the right action because it produces the greatest amount of good.

As most Americans know, for over 10 years already, we have been in a war with Afghanistan due to the World Trade Center attack on 9/11. The war had a stated goal to dismantle the Taliban and a terrorist organization called “Al-Qaeda,” as well as to end Al-Qaeda’s use of Afghanistan as their base for making facilities such as terrorist training camps and secretive underground bases. The War on Terror began on October 7th, 2001, as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks where nearly 3,000 innocent American citizens lost their lives. Many people do believe that the terrorist attack was a “false flag” operation on America by the Elite who run the country with a goal to run oil pipelines from the Caspian Sea through Afghanistan all the way to

The war in Afghanistan which has become the longest war in American history has also become one of the most expensive war in history behind the war in Iraq, which justifies the idea that the United States is unable to manage their expenses and resources in times of war. The war which has lasted for thirteen years along with two years of soldiers still stationed in Afghanistan has caused America to invest a lot into the war against terror. The cost of the Afghanistan war alone has reached almost 1 trillion dollars and counting. The Money has been used for military defense, medical aid, reconstruction, and post war relief (PBS). All of these expenses are from tax payer’s dollars and money that was borrowed and comes with a hefty amount of interest, 124 billion dollars already paid (CNBC). A total of almost two trillion dollars was borrowed and was approximately 20% of the total United States debt (Global Research). During this war money was not being spent effectively, one example includes 6.5 million dollars on communication towers that were never used. For the reconstruction of Afghanistan approximately 104 billion dollars was used and a billions of dollars lost due to wasteful spending, fraud and corruption (MSNBC). Exact values cannot even be placed on where the money went exactly and how much was really lost because the costs were never detailed by the government and further exemplifies the idea that the United States is unable to manage their spending

Although some areas in Afghanistan and Iraq have improved and schools have been established, the United States has not done enough to help the people there. For example, the United States issued propaganda after the September 11 attacks that called for the liberation of women in Afghanistan. American citizens rallied in support of this movement and also supported the war because of it. Although some conditions have improved for women, the United States did not do as much as they said they would (Stabile). In addition, the opium trade has worsened in Afghanistan since the arrival of American troops; the country produces twice as much opium as it did in 2000 (Aikins). The War on Terror has also caused millions of innocent civilians’

For the past 13 years the United States has been involved in the Afghanistan war, and the reasons for the continuation of the Afghanistan war are very blurry. Not only are the reasons for the United States to fight the war blurry, but it seems the the cost vs. benefit of fighting the war do not equal. Only

Through history, the United States has participated in many significant events, such as the infamous Civil War, World War I and II, and the Cold War. In the same manner, the United States has been in many conflicts with the Middle East. For instance, the Gulf War where, we, the United States, liberated the Saudi Arabian country Kuwait from the dictator Saddam Hussein; however, he is in command of one of the most powerful armies in the globe (Operation). Even though this conflict only lasted for months, America had overcome a milestone. So many military personnel have participated in this conflict and all have different stories as well as perspectives. Whether the veteran was on the front line or working behind the scenes,

There is something rather odd in the way America has come to fight its wars since World War II. It’s unimaginable that we would now use anything even remotely approaching the full measure of our military power (aside from the nuclear option) in the wars we fight. This seems only reasonable given the relative weakness of our Third World enemies in Vietnam and the Middle East. But the fact is that we were forced to take our soldiers out of Vietnam because we had lost, and today, despite our vast power, we are only slogging along in the Middle East against a hit-and-run organization that we seem unable to stop. Yet no one, including, very likely, the insurgents themselves, believes that America lacks the raw power to defeat this insurgency if it wants to. So clearly America has adopted and has an accurate sense of proportionality.

“War at its basic level has always been about soldiers. Nations rose and fell on the strength of their armies and the men who filled the ranks.” This is a very powerful quote, especially for the yet young country of the United States, for it gives credit where credit is truly due: to the men who carried out the orders from their superiors, gave their blood, sweat and tears, and in millions of cases their lives while fighting for ideals that they believed their country or government was founded upon, and to ensure the continuation of these ideals. Up until the end of the 20th Century, they did so in the worst of conditions, and this includes not only the battle scene, but also every day life. In

The War in Afghanistan has been an all consuming conflict for the US government since we started to launch air strikes on October 7, 2001. This is a conflict that’s been brewing since before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. This war has the continuation of past conflicts in it, conflicts that can be connected a good deal to the interference of other large powers, such as the USSR. From keeping an eye on the oil reserves, pressuring Iran, and keeping Pakistan stable, our interests and motives for occupying Afghanistan are undeniably laced with many ulterior motives, providing us with the issue of unfavorable opinion and our interests being the source of terrorist attacks. Afghanistan is a country that has been plagued with

In a speech given by President Bush, he called the surge “A new way forward”, which indirectly confirmed to many that the White House was aware of the military shortcomings in Iraq. Although the Bush administration most likely had the best of intentions, there are a few key reasons the Iraqi surge did not have sustained positive results. The surge strategy was to increase the number of troops in Iraq by 20,000; these troops would be used in urban civilian areas where military forces have had a difficult time clearing out neighborhoods. The surge was initially a success, however, after several months it became clear the success was short-lived, and the overall strategy was short sighted. Members of Al Qaeda simply left the region while it was heavily occupied, only to return when the U.S. threat had vacated the area. There was a survey conducted by Iraq, and the overwhelming majority of Iraqi citizens felt that daily living conditions had not changed they were in favor of American troops leaving their country. Although the primary goal of improving the lives of citizens was not fully realized, there is a bigger flaw with the surge, it had aimed to reduce American and Iraqi casualties, as well as lower the number of Al Quad attacks. As already stated, these surges did have some fleeting success, which were able to produce statistics that briefly pacified many critics of the war,

The Counter Insurgency operations in Vietnam have taught the U.S. a lot that can be applied to Afghanistan. According to Phillips (2015) “Although our understanding and steadfast support can make a significant difference, ultimate success depends on

In an age when mankind has the ability to completely annihilate itself through nuclear combat, war can be a more terrifying and powerful thought than ever before. Unfortunately, because of the extent of the actions that the Taliban has committed against both America and its own followers, the United States’ war against terrorism seems to be a necessity. I do feel, however, as if there are many things that can be done by the American government in the near future to peacefully approach a more civil and politically involved Afghanistan. Although my feelings on a war against terrorism are mixed, I do feel that significant actions must be taken in order to restrict the spread of

In 2001 the Twin Towers were destroyed by two planes and also there were two other planes one was supposed to hit the White House and the other the Pentagon. This started the war in Afghanistan. It’s been eight years since this incident, and the United States and President Obama still want to keep this war going. Next year they are going to send 30,000 troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. There are three reasons why they shouldn’t send them: one for their safety; two Afghanistan should keep their business to themselves; and three it’s going to affect the economy big time.

Conventional warfare that is prolonged and resource intensive is not sustainable and eventually leads to descent into attrition type warfare. Irregular warfare operations, be it COIN or counter-terrorism, from the Western perspective consume time and resources. This consumption is predominantly fuelled by the asymmetry of Western and insurgent forces which results in significantly different tactics being used by the two forces. Western powers, in almost all cases, tend to have superior technology and a larger number of forces and rely heavily on these factors during conflicts, however this perceived imbalance of power is not necessarily advantageous for the Western power. Andrew Mack discusses this idea that military superiority does not always result in victory when facing an unconventional enemy, Mack states " In such asymmetric conflicts, insurgents may gain political victory from a situation of military stalemate or even defeat." Here Mack surfaces the idea of 'political capital' and argues that insurgents' ability to win wars stems from "...the progressive attrition of their opponents' political capability to wage war." This concept is solidified if we observe the planned withdrawal from Afghanistan, after having a Western military presence in the nation for over ten years, public support has declined and it is no longer politically viable to continue operations in that theatre. Insurgents continue to function in this state and the threat of