President Trump is not the first to go back on his words when it comes to foreign affairs and he is definitely not the first to attempt something new when it comes to this topic where everything has been tried. Trump put forth on Monday a long awaited decision and strategy for America’s disentanglement from a nearly 16-year-old conflict with Afghanistan. It has almost been 16 years since the grueling war in Afghanistan has begun. This Friday Trump gathered top security officials to discuss possible solutions on the matter at hand. The Trump administration had already promised a new plan towards these matters. After many discussions the US president will “provide the path forward for America’s engagement in Afghanistan and South Asia”. This …show more content…
Trump is deepening the involvement of American troops in Afghanistan and is going back on his words about being against foreign entanglement.
“My original instinct was to pull out and historically I like following my instincts,” President Trump said. “But all my life, I’ve heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office.” President Trump is confident that his new strategy will win the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
After what he called a protracted and exhaustive discussion with his war cabinet at Camp David, President Trump concluded “a hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum for terrorists, including ISIS and Al Qaeda.”
He may believe that he is attempting something new with his ‘strategy’, but he isn’t. Before him Obama killed a lot of terrorists. George W. Bush carried out a ‘condition based’ approach. Neither resulted in an end to this grueling conflict. Trump also says he will ‘win’, but I strongly doubt that’ll happen. Even if Trump were to succeed in killing all insurgents, as long as they still have religious fanaticism or ethnic ambition they will never stop growing and that is beyond our
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Mr. Trump has refused to put a benchmark for success; this allows him to be shielded from potential political backlash.
When Mr. Trump originally campaigned for the White House, he promised to extricate the US from foreign entanglements. But he is now going back on his own words and promises.
His approaches and feelings towards his new Afghanistan strategy are very direct. “We are not nation-building again, we are killing terrorists,” he said.
Whatever his intentions, Mr. Trump expressed a very bellicose tone. He made a promise, loosening restrictions on American soldiers allowing them to hunt down terrorists where he defined them as “thugs and criminals and predators, and – that’s right – losers.”
Mr. Trump added, “The killers need to know they have nowhere to hide, that no place is beyond the reach of American might and American arms,” continuing, “retribution will be fast and powerful.”
Some say that after 16-years the US should have learnt that the Taliban group will not be defeated especially if we look at previous failures. Foreign interventions have done nothing but create
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
Bush greets our nation with the upmost detailed, direct and emotional speech following the “series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts (1).” When the most powerful person in our nation addresses us beginning with a statement like that, you cannot help but automatically have that gut feeling or sense of knowing this is not a good situation. As Bush continues on with his speech stating, “Immediately following the first attack, I implemented our government’s emergency response plans…our military is powerful, and it’s prepared (3)” the intensity has sparked. From two statements Bush has pulled viewers, readers, and listeners into his speech through emotion. Emotions of fear, anger, confusion, hurt and loss being a start to a long list of feelings people have begun to feel. However Bush then state’s, “Our first priority is to get help to those who have been injured, and to take every precaution to protect our citizens at home and around the world from further attacks, (3)” giving people a more reassuring and hopeful view, despite the tragedy unfolding right before their eyes. Towards the end of Bush’s speech he speaks “on behalf of the American people, I thank the many world leaders who have called to offer their condolences and assistance…and we stand together to win the war against terrorism, (5)” in order to show positive unity. Throughout this speech in particular Bush uses his strengths
Mr. Trump uses Americans’ fear and anguish towards terrorism in his election campaign taking advantages of the current worldwide volatile situation.
Some of Trump’s positions on topics includes altering trade deals between the US and China, opposition to trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, repealing the Affordable Care Act, tax cuts, tougher immigration legislation, and reforming care for veterans. Regarding trade, Trump plans to appoint delegates who are willing to identify the abuses of trade agreements by other nations, such as the manipulation of currency that China engages in. He also plans to renegotiate the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to provide better deals for American workers and end the sweatshops in Mexico that take jobs away from American workers. In renegotiating many of our trade deals, Trump aims to bring jobs back to our country. Alongside this, Trump plans to cut taxes across the board for the middle class, as well as lower the business tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, which would promote more business and jobs. Concerning immigration, Trump plans to build a physical wall across the border and to implement a policy where anyone who is caught illegally crossing the border will be detained and sent back to his native country. He also will end sanctuary cities, which are cities that hold illegal immigrants without prosecuting them. Trump’s hope in finding stability and peace is rooted in his foreign policy. He plans to work with our Arab
Recently, President Bush gave his State of the Union Address to Congress. Throughout his speech, he makes a solid case for the further unification of America throughout these harsh times. He makes a very strong argument for the retaliation of the actions committed against America. However, when he speaks of bringing the terrorists to justice, his argument falters. He has made a hasty judgement with little proof when he first began his argument.
The newly elected American president on 20th January 2017 addressed the citizens of his state, the dignified world leaders and his adversaries. President Trump from the very beginning of his speech addressed the protection of America and pointed out the protection of each of the single American. His speech directed towards the presidents who had already served in the American state. Moreover, repetitively he gave signs of warning to the enemies of the state. His speech reflected those enemies, which are a threat to the world peace along with the survival of their won country. His emphasis was over the revival in the American system, whether the education, health or national security agendas.
Politicians spend a significant amount of time on the construction of their reputation. The typical politician aims to project themselves as kind, caring, and hardworking, however, Donald Trump has taken a slightly different approach, instead, playing up his success in business. He portrays himself as a winner and an indomitable force, someone who is finally willing to say things as they are. This is quite a stark difference between Mr. Trump and the typical politician.
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
Trump really latched onto that one because he was smart enough to think about the lower class the most the forgotten people in society and he was smart enough to gain their support rallying everyone together which only exponentially helped his campaign. An important writing in the Art of War is the quote “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer” he should use this statement and keep all the world leaders out there in his pocket so he never must fear about war breaking out against him, especially Russia and North Korea. He made it clear that he has the middle east in mind and he is trying to not really get involved on all the horror over there but he does make sure to keep them in
The Obama (Democrat) administration’s military intervention foreign policy is in the ‘half out’ category because his administration desired “a ‘light footprint’ that enables it to fight its wars stealthily, execute its operations with the speed [. . .] and then avoid lengthy entanglements.” (Sanger xviii). Obama utilized a get-in-and-get-out-quick
Trump has not demonstrated an understanding of national and international concepts, such as the Geneva Convention. He has claimed that, should he be elected, the military will begin targeting the families of terrorists. In addition, the use of torture to interrogate criminals will be supported, including the return of waterboarding. Both proposals are violations of the Geneva Convention, which has been explained to him with no effect. Not only should these severe lapses of judgement be alarming, but Trump’s lack of diplomacy has insulted at least 217 different people, objects, and places, including foreign nations, as shown in the list compiled by Jasmine Lee and Kevin Quealy of the New York Times. His degradations are sometimes attempts to limit the speech of the targeted party as revenge, such as spreading rumors that Forbes, the National Review, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal are “failing,” “dying,” written by “really bad people” who “knowingly print lies,” and even, in the case of the Wall Street Journal, “bad at math” (Lee and Quealy) after uncomplimentary articles were written. On a wider scale, Trump’s allegations against countries such as Britain, Saudi Arabia, and Mexico could damage international relations, particularly the plan to build a much larger wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and “compel Mexico to pay for the wall” (Make America Great Again!). Marco Rubio, who was also a Republican candidate, explained why Trump’s inconsideration has short-term success but long-term problems: “A lot of people find appeal in the things Donald says [because] he says what people wish they could say. The problem is, presidents can't just say anything they want. It has consequences, here and around the world” (CNN). Although many people do not support
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.
A few days ago, the American drone attack along the Durand Line targeted Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansur and martyred him. After the attack [President] Obama said: "We targeted the Taliban leader; This is a big step; We provided opportunity for peace in Afghanistan; The Taliban should accept the Kabul government; Otherwise more attacks would be carried out against them."
When Donald trump announced his candidacy it was somewhat of a joke to some of the establish GOP members, but as time went on it became clearer that he is what the American public wanted. Donald Trump is a man that to the public may seem like he has no idea what the is doing, but that is not the truth at all. Walter Meade said that, “In both domestic and foreign policy, this century will be profoundly influenced by the values and concerns of Jacksonian America (Mead 2002, 231).” Donald Trump embodies those Jacksonian principles almost down to the mark, with a small percentage of Jeffersonian thrown in. He believes in first and foremost protecting America and its interests while still protecting the liberties at home, and that is what has shaped and will shape his foreign policy if and when he becomes president.