Financing the War in Afghanistan Essay

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.

Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. Three decades of war has subjected Afghans to harsh living conditions. Leaving most with insufficient resources to survive. Many women are left widowed, and are obligated to provide for their families,

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

The society one lives in today is controlled by the flow of money. The use of wealth dictates the entire world, and as a result, power, success, and improvement come with the logical and thoughtful control of money. So why does Canada strive for success if the government can’t cut funds towards useless motions? The Canadian government should fund the military less. As of 2016, the Canadian government spent $19 billion, roughly 1.35% of Canada’s total GDP funding the military. Recent political debate has run into this topic: is spending $19 billion on the Canadian military logical? The disposition of this argument held in this essay believes it is not, and subsequently believes significant cuts in the military’s budget need to be made. The reason

The videos about “Buying the War and Bush’s War,” show the American people the cruel reality about the war in Iraq. They display many of the atrocities committed within the war, were many Americans and Iraqis died. This was the time when the country of the United States was under George Bush’s administration (2001-2008). All was initiated after the attack to the World Trade Center, on 9/11, which was one of the biggest terrorist attacks that anyone could ever live. Many people that witnessed what happened or heard the news still remember the tragedy. On that day the U.S. Citizens became angry, anxious, and scared about their safety. In respond to this, the U.S. President, George W. Bush, decided to retaliate against terrorists and

Canadians pride themselves on being a “peacekeeping country” and many believe that peacekeeping represents a defining aspect of Canadian identity because it reflects fundamental values, beliefs and interests. Canada has been a leader in peace operations since its development that spearheaded by a Canadian. In fact, Canada’s role as peacekeeper remains the main focus of the Canadian military after its invention around 60 years ago, originally started by a Canadian. Their efforts have gained an international reputation for Canada as a significant contributor to international peace and stability. While Canada has an exemplary history in UN peacekeeping, the current extent of its contribution, both in terms of peacekeeping personnel and percentage of funds to peacekeeping missions, are on a clear decline. The belief that Canada is a peacekeeping country is misguided because recent Canadian commitment shows a sharp decline in Canadian participation in UN peacekeeping. Surprisingly, as of March 2007, Canada ranked 59th out of 114 countries in terms of military and police contributions to UN operations. Despite Canadian declined involvement in peacekeeping during the last decade, it still remains a valuable and important mission that greatly deserves Canadian resources including monetary support, resources and personnel.

1. In President Obama’s speech at West Point, he announced that 30,000 additional troops would be sent to Afghanistan. He made this decision because he said it was vital to the United States’ national interest. The vital national interest at risk in President Obama’s address is the security and safety of the American people as well as the “security of our allies and the common security of the world.” By involving the military and increasing the troop strength, President Obama can achieve the objectives of his strategy. His objectives are to keep the Taliban from becoming powerful, prevent them from government rule, improve Afghanistan security forces and government so they can manage their own country and prevent Al Qaeda from

“What We Are Fighting For” written by Canadian veteran Rex Murphy challenges the reasons for Canada's mission in Afghanistan. Murphy begins by advocating that Canada entered into the war on terror not only to back our American allies but also in retaliation to the Al-Queida attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. He states that we needed to do step in since in both of these attacks not only killed Canadians, but jeopardizes our sense of security. Murphy continues to discuss Canada's current role in Afghanistan. Firstly, he discusses how we need to displace the Taliban Government as a means of protection for the future, both for the Afghan people and Canadians. Secondly, Murphy believes that we play an important part providing the

Ever since the end of the Second World War, Canada was not involved in many other issues. After the war Canada assumed a peacekeeping role with the rest of the world. It was only during the first and Second World War Canada was obligated to be involved. Since then Canada has been involved in 14 world conflicts. According to Craig Allen an author at the Canadian encyclopedia, “only 5 of these wars were as part of the British Empire, 3 of them as part of NATO. Of these wars only 1 was initiated by Canada.” The most recent war that was initiated by Canada was the intervention of ISIL. Canada’s military is not as heavily funded in comparison

“We are not there to do traditional peacekeeping. We are there to combat terrorism and promote human rights.” The image of the twin towers coming down on September 11, 2001 shook the entire world. Since the Suez Crisis of 1956, Canadian soldiers had served as peacekeepers in Cyprus, Somalia, and many other war-torn countries. However, Canada's reputation changed when the Canadian Armed Forces joined the United States' war against Afghanistan. Although many argue that Canada entered the war to only fulfill NATO obligations, Canada's participation in Afghanistan was part of a larger mission; to combat global terrorism and save the oppressed citizens of Afghanistan. Canada's participation in the war in Afghanistan brought Canada world recognition for being more than

Peacekeeping is a legacy that has been sewn into our country’s core - Canada. Once known for its initiative and determination as open arms of peace but, the true question that we need to ask is “our reputation truly deserved” in modern day. We as Canadians, have truly fallen behind in the values, We used to hold so dear to us. Even though our world is an constant fluctuation of combat and tranquility not all areas of the world are not as fortunate but instead of sending men and women into battles to instil times of peace, we rather our pay checks as a consolation of support in third world countries that suffer from poverty, hunger and watching their future die.

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

The worst case scenario for the United States in the late 70s and early 80s was the threat of the Soviet invasion of Iran and subsequent control of the Saudi Oil fields. The best that could be done to counter a possible Soviet invasion would have been the deployment of parts of the 82nd Airborne Division to the Zagros Mountains of Iran, which would take at least a week with reinforcements arriving much later. This was not acceptable to the Carter Administration, which decided on another course of action - to actively support the anti-Soviet Mujahideen “freedom - fighters” in Afghanistan and help protect the Middle Eastern oil fields. This American involvement in the Soviet Afghan war has

This paper will be explaining the similarities, and differences, between the Vietnam War and the War in Afghanistan. There are many topics that bring these two wars together. However, I am only going to be talking about public support, policy objectives, military strategy, weapons, fighting spirit, links to home, and death totals. These topics have a lot of information about them, but there is too much to write about every little detail, so I will cover the broad overview of them. Each paragraph will be about one of the topics. There will also be a discussion about insurgencies and counter insurgency operations. These are two big topics in Vietnam and Afghanistan since almost all of the enemy in both wars were, and are, comprised of insurgents and different types of militia groups.

The first tenet of COIN aligns with the first two statements of COMISAF’s Counterinsurgency Guidance. The primary focus is on the people and earning their trust. The people function as the internal intelligence for the government and support the goal of eliminating, harboring and providing safe havens for the enemy. This effort is supported by the United States Soldiers and its allies taking up residence in the community with the Afghanistan people. This also reinforces President Obama core element of a civilian surge to reinforce positive action. It is imperative to get the people out in the public view and not living in fear. Constant and daily interaction is essential in gathering local intelligence on what is going in the government in hopes of understanding how the people feel and think about their leadership. Communication is helpful but being a good listener is an invaluable asset to information gathering. Secondly, the United States military goal is to support the fostering of renewed trust of the Afghanistan people in their government and security forces. The ultimate goal is that the Afghanistan people reject the insurgents and stop them from infiltrating their infrastructure. This approach was taught by