Revised e2

[Minerva, A]

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. started a war against
terrorism. For the past seven and a half years U.S. troops have
occupied Afghanistan. The goal was to oust the Taliban regime. Since
the Taliban regime ruled that country, it was believed that Al-Qaeda
had a perfect hide out in Afghanistan. The Taliban regime was
overthrown in 2001, but the movement still remains, and the Al-Qaeda
leader is still on the loose. (Baker/Kolay, 2009). This war is also
called the Long War and there have been more casualties in Afghanistan
than in the 9/11 attack (Highwater, 2009). This clearly demonstrates
that the U.S. officials’ decision to enter a conflict in the Middle
East is an incorrect approach. The U.S. government is fighting the
wrong war because history shows that Afghanistan is not a country that
will be controlled (Encyclopedia farlex, 2009). Another reason for
this conflict to be considered a mistake is that the U.S. is going
through an economic crisis, and the money that should be used to help
in the financial emergency is being spent in this war. U.S. foreign
policy is making things worst in the Afghanistan war. America
believes that the world should accommodate to its selfish demands. But
this is wrong because all the countries have rights that can not be
violated by any other nation, and that is what America is being doing.
History has proven that Afghanistan is a country hard to control.
Afghanistan has been invaded so many times from many countries for
example, the Indo-European speaking Aryans before 1200 BC to in more
recent times the Russians; but rarely have the invaders been able to
fully control the mountainous region (Encyclopedia farlex 2009). The
Taliban was in power in Afghanistan at the time the U.S. invaded that
country. By the year 2001 the Taliban regime was defeated;
nevertheless, the movement is still on going in Afghanistan. The
human rights of women are still violated and little girls have been
raped by Taliban members. U.S. officials are sending more troops to
this country, but rather than helping it is raising the repulsion
against America. More men are joining the Taliban lines as a
consequence of America’s decision to stay in this endless war. One of
the excuses for the U.S. government to fight in Afghanistan is that
women are lacking the most basics of human rights. Since the U.S.
occupation; crime in Afghanistan raised to fifty percent in 2008
(Kolhatkar, 2008). U.S. government does not accurately inform the
people about the deaths of innocent civilians and the horrible
situation of Afghan women in this country under warlords. The
occupation is killing more civilians than the Taliban. Osama Bin
Laden, the Taliban leader, is still free and showing the world that he
and his friends are just too much for the U.S. to handle. In the book
The limits of power, the author points out that America defeated the
Taliban regime but failed to eliminate the Taliban movement and its
leader which poses a threat to go back to power (Bacevich, 2009).
Bacevich also comments, “there is no end in sight. If anything,
American adversaries are gaining strength” (p.125). This clearly
depicts an America fighting an endless war against a country that is
getting stronger and therefore the outcome would not favor the U.S.
demands for empire. The U.S. government should not send more troops
to Afghanistan instead they should remain in that country with the
army that is already there until a new leader is elected. The Afghan
people should exercise democracy by electing a leader that will help
them reconstruct their political policies and the U.S. troops should
come home.
Today America is going through a bad economic time. The financial
crisis is rising. Even though the government has bailed out so many
big firms in order to boost the flow of money it is not enough. The
schools are in deficit, the colleges are cutting classes, foreclosures
are taking place all over the country, and there are millions of
people that lost their houses (Palmery n.a.). The current economic
slow down is closely related to the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. On
October, 2009 the Senate passed a bill to total the check for the
Afghan war to around $300 billions (Ortenzi, 2009). This deed is
remarkable because the federal government is spending so much money in
this non-sense war rather than investing nationally in education,
health care, the housing market, and many more problems that Americans
are facing. Many elementary schools are asking parents to donate glue
sticks, reams of writing paper, and pencils because they do not have
budget funds to spend on these basic tools for education. It is a
shame for the U.S. to have its schools in these conditions but have
billions of dollars invested in a cause that will neither benefit
America nor Afghanistan. Many colleges around the country are cutting
classes in a high percentage because there is no funding for
education. Health care is one of the main discussions for the last
few months but this problem prolongs for many years. Over 47 millions
of American people do not have health insurance (Henig, 2009). The
big issue for congress is the cost universal health care would have to
the federal budget. Barbara Lee’s 2008 bill rightly states that the
economic crisis is directly related to the cost of war and proposes to
redeploy the army from Iraq, focus on domestic priorities, and protect
the economic security of Americans. Unfortunately this bill did not
pass; it is still in the hands of the House Committee Armed Forces.
This bill should have passed because American government needs to help
its people overcome this recession. By investing in education, health,
and welfare, America will have more possibilities to prevail against
the challenges that could be faced ahead. Having a good education
system, a health care for everyone would help to restore America’s the
bad image gained by wrong decision from U.S. government.
The U.S. foreign policy is affecting the decisions that have been
taking place. America wants the world to accommodate to its
requirements. The U.S. hunger for empire is going beyond limits. The
long war is an explicit example of the American individualism. For
example the Bush administration decided to invade Afghanistan because
Afghan government refused to listen to the Bush’s administration
demands concerning terrorist attacks on 9/11 (Hornberger, 2007).
Since America is this super power, U.S. officials invade a country
that does not comply with their request. America had a very good
image around the world before the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
That popularity with other countries should have been used to approach
the issues in the Middle East in a pacific manner and not to invade a
third world country. All the technology used by the U.S. army is not
working against the enemy, but it is killing innocent people. The
U.S. should withdraw troops from occupying these countries and work to
better their foreign policy by studying other countries culture,
language, and government. Having knowledge about the country in
conflict will help to approach any situation in an educated way. The
U.S. government should be an example for third world countries and
should not use its superior military advantage against innocent
civilians.


References


Bacevich, A. 2009. The limits of power. New York: Holt.

Baker, A., & Kolai, L. (2009). The U.S in Afghaniostan: The Longest
War.
Time. Retrieved from
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1890243,00.html

Henig, J. (2009, March 10). Uninsured U.S. citizens. FactCheck.org
Retrieved from
http://www.factcheck.org/2009/03/uninsured-us-citizens/


Highwater, Helen & Harry. (2009, September 11). At least 753,399 have
been killed in
Afghanistan and Iraq. Unknown News. Retrieved from
http://www.unknownnews.net/casualties.html


Hornberger, Jacob G. (2007, October 20). The war on Afghanistan was
wrong, too.
Retrived form http://www.lewrockwell.com/hornberger/hornberger136.html

Lee, Rep. B. 2008, March 4. Expressing the sense of the House of
Representatives that the current
economic slowdown in the United States is directly related to the
enormous costs of the ongoing occupation of Iraq, consigning the
United States to what can only be called the Iraq recession, and for
other purposes. US House of Representatives.

Ortenzi, T.J. (2009, October 6). Senate passes pentagon budget, war
funding bill.
The Huffington Post. Retrieved from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/06/senate-passes-pentagon-
bu_n_311891.html

Rawa77. (2008, July 26). Pacifica radio host Sonali Kolhaktar speech.
Why Afghanistan
is just as bad as Iraq. Podcast retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqBogn6ikG8


Palmery, C. ( January 14). Over one million people lost their home in
2008. Business Week.
Retrieved from
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/hotproperty/archives/2009/01/over_one_millio.h
tml.