Afghanistan War
On September 11th 2001 an Islamic terrorist extremist group called al Qaeda attacked New York City. The attack killed 2,984 people: 2,600 at the Twin Towers; 125 at the pentagon (that was also attacked on 9/11) and 256 on the various planes (Members n.d.). Afghanistan gave safe-haven to al Qaeda while they were planning these attacks. Because of this, America declared war on Afghanistan on October 10th, 2011. The war has been going on for a decade and now the U.S. government is trying to decide whether to pull out of the war or continue fighting. America should stay in Afghanistan but we should change our goal. We should concentrate on helping the people of Afghanistan get back up on their feet, which will help keep the Taliban from coming back into power. If the Taliban did come back into power they could invite al Qaeda in to again hurt the United States.
If America leaves Afghanistan without leaving a stable government a vicious cycle may start anew. In 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Since the U.S. was going through the cold war we went to Afghanistan to help force the Soviets back. We eventually did and the Soviets left, but so did America. We left Afghanistan in shambles. They had no government and half the country was destroyed. This was why in 1991, the Taliban was able to swoop in and take over the country. Now we are basically fighting the war the same way. Larry Goodson from the Eurasia Review claims, “McChrystal’s focus on the key population centers is very similar to the ineffective city-centric strategy followed 25 years earlier by the Soviets.” (Goodson 2011). Though Afghanistan should be left with a governmental system, it need not be democratic. The Soviet Union wanted to make Afghanistan communist and it didn’t work out for them. Peter Beaumont from the The Guardian writes, “ It was an error repeated by the US-led efforts to rebuild the country as a democratic state” (Beaumont 2009). Referencing us trying to turn Afghanistan into a
If America leaves Afghanistan without leaving a stable government a vicious cycle may start anew. In 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Since the U.S. was going through the cold war we went to Afghanistan to help force the Soviets back. We eventually did and the Soviets left, but so did America. We left Afghanistan in shambles. They had no government and half the country was destroyed. This was why in 1991, the Taliban was able to swoop in and take over the country. Now we are basically fighting the war the same way. Larry Goodson from the Eurasia Review claims, “McChrystal’s focus on the key population centers is very similar to the ineffective city-centric strategy followed 25 years earlier by the Soviets.” (Goodson 2011). Though Afghanistan should be left with a governmental system, it need not be democratic. The Soviet Union wanted to make Afghanistan communist and it didn’t work out for them. Peter Beaumont from the The Guardian writes, “ It was an error repeated by the US-led efforts to rebuild the country as a democratic state” (Beaumont 2009). Referencing us trying to turn Afghanistan into a
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