E.+Persuasive+Research+Essay

Afghan War “This is a land that belongs to the people of Afghanistan. A prior question should be what do Afghan people want for their country? Not, what kind of designs does the United States have on their resources around their geo-political placement” (Kelly). The United States has been at war for over 9 years in Afghanistan. They have not seen major gains, even though the Obama Administration says that there has been significant progress. The Afghan War is wrong because U.S. troops are dying, it is costing the U.S. a lot of money, and we are not making a difference anymore. “The United States made terrible decisions in the pursuit of terrorists around the world – decisions that not only violated the Constitution, but also hampered the pursuit of Al Qaeda” (Mayer). We have gone into a country where some do not even want us there to help them. The U.S. has not been able to succeed at what they set out to do in Afghanistan. We have not found all the Taliban and/or Al Qaeda. These people will stop at nothing to harm us and those in their own country. We’ve trained the Afghan people to fight against the Al Qaeda, so it’s time for us to go. Our American soldiers were sent to Afghanistan for the right reasons after 9/11, but have done all they can do there. “The U.S. war in Afghanistan started off with rousing optimism in the fall of 2001, but by the end of the decade has devolved into a quagmire for U.S. troops and potential disaster for the Afghan people. For all its twists and turns, it has had one striking constant—nearly every decision made by Western policymakers and Afghan leaders in fighting it has been the wrong one” (Cohen 9-13). Does it really take a decade or more to get life in order in Afghanistan? The United States has enough of its own problems that need to be taken care of. The United States is in debt right now. The economy is the lowest it’s been in years. “Current U.S. policy toward Afghanistan involves spending scores of billions of dollars and suffering several hundred allied deaths annually to prevent the Afghan Taliban from controlling the Afghan Pashtun homeland -- with little end in sight” (Blackwill 42-50). Are their lives more important than our own? Ask just about any American this question, and their answer would be no. “Plan A has produced some good results: the Afghan economy is improving, there are many committed reformers in the government – especially in a number of key ministerial positions and key governorships – and Afghan people strongly prefer to avoid a return of Taliban rule or civil war” (O’Hanlon and Riedel 123-124). It is great that the U.S. has helped improve their economy and government. We need to get our troops out of there and concentrate on repairing our own country. Enough time, money and lives have been given to Afghanistan. As you can see, the United States has spent too much time in Afghanistan. There are some that would say we are doing good work over there, but our work is done. It is time to leave! The Afghan War is wrong because U.S. troops are dying, it is costing the U.S. a lot of money, and we are not making a difference anymore. It is time to get our troops out of Afghanistan! Write to your Senator, get involved with rallies, and contact the President if you have to. Tell them it needs to end right now! “This is a land that belongs to the people of Afghanistan. A prior question should be what do Afghan people want for their country? Not, what kind of designs does the United States have on their resources around their geo-political placement.” (Kelly).

Works Cited Blackwill, Robert. "Plan B in Afghanistan." //Foreign Affairs// Jan. - Feb. 2011: 42-50. Print. Cohen, Michael. "Afghanistan: What Can We Achieve?". Dissent 1 Jan. 2011: 9-13. Print. Kelly, Kathy. "Voices for Creative Nonviolence." //Voices for Creative Nonviolence//. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2011. . Mayer, Jane. Dark side: the inside story of how the war on terror turned into a war on American ideals. New York: Doubleday, 2008. Print. O'Hanlon, Michael, and Bruce Riedel. "Plan A-Minus for Afghanistan." The Washington Quarterly Winter 2011: 123-124. Print.