Public Private Divide Structure The Priorities Of Human Rights Issues

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?

Assef a local radical provides a chilling insight into the radicalism exhibited in some individuals in Afghanistan and how they have distorted views of the

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,

Violence, war, discrimination, and poverty: these issues have long been a part of Afghanistan’s history. Even though things in Afghanistan are getting better, war fills the country, and women and children have to learn to endure abuse, caused by men and the Taliban; they also learn to endure poverty. Considering this, it is no wonder why Afghanistan is in the terrible position it is in now. Many Afghan cities like Kabul are filled with things like violence and discrimination, and the book A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini takes place in Kabul. This book follows the lives of two Afghani women, Mariam and Laila, as they suffer pain and discrimination received from the Taliban and their

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

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’

Therefore, following 9/11 the fight for rights for Muslim women increased greatly. More organizations appeared in the Middle East and more women have published stories of what they lived through in the Middle East (p25/87). Not only has this cause grown since 9/11, it has only taken on more importance for importance for the American population with activists being booked for speaking engagements, earning awards, and some even receiving honorary doctorate degrees (p96). The media has always taken on this view of Middle Eastern society. For example, the cover story for the August 2010 edition of TIME magazine was titled, “What happens if we leave Afghanistan?” inferring that ground troops are protecting the Afghani women (p27). In April of 2011, a German human rights campaign published a poster that shows a road lined with blue and black trash bags with a Muslim dressed in full blue cover sitting among the trash bags (p9). The picture is captioned with the words, “Oppressed Women are easily overlooked. Please support us in the fight for their rights.” (p9). This perspective, that Muslim women, are fragile beings that need Americans to support has plagued much of American society in recent

The United States citizens have been wrestling with the question of, whether their government intelligence agencies should be prohibited from using torture to gather information. According to Michael Ignatieff, this is the hardest case of what he describes as ‘lesser evil ethics’—a political ethics predicated on the idea that in emergencies leaders must choose between different evils Before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, torture was viewed by most American’s as only actions that brutal dictators would employ on their citizens, to keep order within their country. However, this all changed when in May 2004, The New Yorker released photographs from the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The disturbing pictures were released on the internet showing bodies of naked Iraqis piled onto each other, others showed Iraqis being tortured and humiliated. There was a huge up roar, which caused the President at the time George W. Bush to publicly apologize, and threaten the job of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Soon after, the CIA Conformed the use of waterboarding on three Al-Qaida suspects in 2002 and 2003, which further annihilated the topic. Since these reports, torture has been in the forefront of national politics, and the public opinion has been struggling to commit on whether torture is right or wrong.

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

When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, millions of women wanted to flee from their oppressive regime. Even with so many wanting to leave however, several barriers including the Taliban’s extensive civil rights restrictions, and the U.S’s increased immigration restrictions prevented a proportional amount of Afghani women from immigrating. The sudden regime change in Afghanistan caused a catastrophic loss of civil liberties as well as civil disrupt throughout the entire country, causing a sudden surge in Afghani immigration. Political

“We lost the war in southern Afghanistan and it broke my heart.” This statement used by Graeme Smith in the introduction to his book, The Dogs are Eating Them Now: Our War in Afghanistan, sets the tone for the rest of the book. Although foreign forces had, arguably, the best of intentions going into the war, the Taliban always regrouped and reappeared, often larger and harder to defeat than before, no matter how tremendous their losses were in previous battles. International forces did what they thought was essential for rebuilding of Afghanistan, including the elimination of the Taliban through air strikes and poppy eradication, even though they did not truly understand the needs and priorities of Afghan citizens and were constantly perceived negatively by the Afghan civilians. In an accessible method, Smith provides general knowledge about how the intervention on the behalf of the international community impacted the country and its people. This book also leaves me with reflections on the dynamic between insurgents and villagers and how the international forces could have helped to prevent a power vacuum from occurring during the years where most foreign forces pulled out of Afghanistan.

The negotiation for the release of Bowe Bergdahl in 2014 is the subject of my review. Bergdahl was the last United States (U.S) prisoner-of-war from the war in Afghanistan captured in 2009 by the Haqqani network, an ally of the Taliban terrorist group (Wallbank and Ratnam 2014). Bergdahl was taken after leaving his Army post and held by his captives in Pakistan for five years (CBS NEWS). According to reports, Bergdahl left his post as a result of becoming disillusioned with the war effort following the death of a fellow soldier; leaving many, including some members of congress, to consider him as a deserter (Capehart 2014).

The Taliban implemented laws restricting the movements and actions of women in Afghanistan in public places. While attempting to visit her child in a home for young girls, Laila is beaten within an inch of her life as a consequence of walking outside without a male escort (Hosseini). The extreme course of action, beating a woman for walking alone, demonstrates the illogical and unjustifiable actions the Taliban promotes the practice of in Afghanistan. The women and men have dramatically unequal rights.

This book is the result of five trips taken to Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan that were taken between June 2007 and June 2008. Junger states that he was never asked-directly or indirectly- to alter his reporting in any way or to show the contents of his camera. Junger is an American citizen and has recollections of the terrorist’s attacks that took place on September 11, 2001. With this in mind, it could be cause for some bias reporting that may be presented and talked about through this book review.

Then, on October 7th, President Bush announced operations in Afghanistan were underway. In his address to the nation, President Bush enumerated the demands given to Taliban leadership as, “close terrorist training camps; hand over leaders of the Al Qaeda network; and return all foreign nationals, including American citizens, unjustly detained in your country.” It was clear “none of these demands were met,” as President Bush announced military strikes were underway in Afghanistan. This concludes the first element of contemporary evidence.