Anticommunist Ideology In Charlie Wilson's War

Theoretically, it holds that the United States (US) invaded Afghanistan as a self-defense strategy following the 9/11 attacks. Practically, however, as US foreign policy is about conquest, self-protection and resource-extraction, it seeks strategic dominance of geographical space to sustain its global relevance. The rationality of the US suggests the need to continuously accumulate capital, resources and military proficiency to ensure autonomy. Therefore, a pragmatic reading into the motivation behind the invasion of Afghanistan negates the self-defense theory. Rather, the shifting coordinates of power within central and southern Asia crafted the perfect criteria for US intervention. This work explores the motivations and systemic cover-ups designed by the Bush administration in ordering military troops into Afghanistan in 2001. It will hold that this invasion was not just a War on Terror, but rather a tactic to ensure US prevalence within the region, and henceforth, the rest of the world. Thus, why did the US invade Afghanistan?

Historically, the United States has entered military conflict, direct and indirect, based on the desire to maintain its political ideals and or minimize the expansion of alternative governmental forces. The prevailing sentiment of American policy with regards to military occupation and direct conflicts focuses on the practical irradiation of communism. Military experts and academic scholars debate over the definition of war in America, blurring the lines under which policymakers identify conflict. Ultimately the political objectives, economic frugality and social climate shape the American “way of war”.

When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on December 1979, the goal was to help Afghan communist forces set up a communist government. The Soviet Union felt Afghanistan had key resources and a foothold in the Middle East to spread communist ideas. The result would be a war that the Soviet Union wishes it never got involved in and likened to their “Vietnam War”, meaning winning a number of battles but not the war like what happened to the U.S. in Vietnam. The background of the war, outcome of the war, and impact on the United States are key to understanding the Soviet-Afghan War.

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

Wilson made a secret series of studies that helped him learn more about the hostile government, and helped him make the Fourteen Points.

On April 2, 1917, President Wilson wrote and spoke one of his famous speech: War Message. President Wilson wants to ensure the people 's hope and faith from the war. As President Wilson (1917) stated in his speech "Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it... Our motive will not be revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the nation, but only the vindication of right, of human right, of which we are only a single champion."was to fix the issue the nation was in. President Wilson wants to show the people that we need to get involved war for the loss of many American lives that Germany took. Wilson persuades to Congress to go to war. President Wilson shows his persuasion effectively by using rhetorical strategies. Each strategy he used gave more persuasion to Congress to declare war on Germany. All the persuasion he used to convince Congress was put in his famous speech War Message.

Charlie Wilson was a great knowledgeable congressman, who saw the struggles that were caused by the Soviet Union. He was interested in the Afghan-Soviet Union war, where Soviet jets and helicopters were gunning down many children and women. He visits Afghanistan and meets with the President, where they explain the dilemma and needed money for high-equipped guns to take down the Soviet planes. After witnessing masses of people living in camps without any aid, he decides to help the country that was being attacked by the USA’s rival the Soviet Union. His budget of 5 million dollars was doubled to 10 for the needed supplies but it still wasn’t enough. He also visits the CIA chief in Pakistan and offers him any assistance they need, such as cash

The next two films depict the CIA being deeply involved in the funding and arming of groups to repel Communism. In Chile they spent money on propaganda and to create an atmosphere perfect for a coup whereas in my next two examples the CIA was directly involved in orchestrating a regime change.

The war between Afghanistan and the United States has been one that has lasted longer than any war; the civil war combined with both World War I and World War II do not match the duration the United States currently faces with Afghanistan. With both countries engaging little to no military conflict, the U.S. continues to be on Afghanistan’s territory, securing the country from the rise of militias potentially threatening our counterpart’s sovereignty. Many people have been arguing whether the US should withdraw from Afghanistan and when. Currently, as the U.S. plans to withdraw from the Afghan nation, the issue is not one that pertains to the U.S. and Afghanistan, for they are not the only two involved. American forces had planned to leave the opponent’s nation but fear the security along with the sovereignty of Afghanistan continues to be one that is porous. The initiation of the war was the 9/11 attack and has been lasting for 13 years. However, many people complain about the extreme high cost of the war The United States should withdraw completely from Afghanistan because of the high cost of the war, popular opinion’s support, and very few al-Qaeda members are left.

The war began because Congress declared a war on germany, upon Woodrow Wilson’s request. Woodrow Wilson started off arguing that the presence of non democratic governments like the one that germany was under, posed a danger on democracy everywhere. The reason Woodrow Wilson went on to say this was because Non democratic countries are more likely to get involved in warfare where democratic governments normally wouldn’t get involved in. Wilson also argued that democratic governments would never do something that put the peaceful countries in harm's way unlike autocratic governments, which is the type of government that Germany was under. Autocratic governments do as they please regardless of who gets hurt because they have no one to be checking

The on going conflict in Afghanistan or the “War On Terror” is another conflict that some could argue is due to religious reasons. The Terror attack in the United States was the catalyst for the cause of the war it could defiantly be said to be caused by religious matters. Due to the terrorists having misguided beliefs in there religion and being extremists in acting in the religion of Islam which gives it a bad representative of the true religion. On the flip side of the argument there are defiantly a lot of conflicts of wars that were not caused due to religion. A example of this would be the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, this was a non religious act and was caused because of power. Saddam Hussein wanted to caputre and control more land and beloved Kuwait was part of Iraq. This changes perspectives of the argument and shows not all wars have religious reasons to

In Charlie Wilson’s War directed by Mike Nichols and Tom Hanks, Charles Wilson, a wealthy Congressman living in luxury, is sent to refugee camps to discover the harsh realities of war and hopefully help aid his country. This movie takes place in the 1980’s and follows the war between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan. Charlie Wilson must do everything in his power to aid his dying country before the Soviet Union takes over.

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

Working with the Taliban, al-Qa’ida, and Pakistan’s ISI is a duplicitous role that provides “credibility within, and across, multiple dimensions of jihad” (Rassler et al. July 14, 2011, p.5) establishing the shared identity necessary to imbue respect and connectivity as part of an influential group dynamic. Why is all this important? The Haqqani network’s credibility in the region, especially with the tribal groups of Afghanistan, helps extend the Taliban’s reach and because the Haqqani network is effective militarily, they act as a force multiplier for the Taliban. This puts the Haqqani network in a regional leadership position, and Schwartz, Dunkel, et al suggest that this leadership role would be considered admirable providing further social capital.

As mentioned by Riedel (2008, pp 32-36), the jihadist terrorist movement gained momentum during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980’s. During this period, Pakistan was a key to victory in overcoming