Position Paper Summaries

Position Paper #1:

Who is/are the authors?

1. The author is David Kilcullen, he is an expert on Australian counter insurgency.

Thesis:

1. The U.S. cannot allow Afghanistan to become another Taliban-run sanctuary for al-Qaeda, which could lead to another 9/11. The U.S. must defeat the Taliban, even if this means increasing the number of troops.

Three Main Arguments:

1. The U.S. must remain in Afghanistan, and prevent more of the country from falling under Taliban control.

2. Additional U.S. troops are needed, and a sound counterinsurgency strategy must be developed.

3. U.S. forces should be out in the community, working alongside Afghan army and police to support local officials and secure delivery of services.

Position Paper #2:

Who is/are the authors?

1. The author is Micheal A. Cohen and Parag Khanna. They are writers of an article in Foreign Policy titled “Where the Real Fight Is.”

Thesis:

1. The real havens of the Taliban and al-Quaeda are in Pakistan, not Afghanistan. Instead of increasing the number of troops in Afghanista, the U.S. should focus its efforts on Pakistan.

Three Main Arguments:

1. The Taliban is too un-popular in Afghanistan to have a chance of taking back the country.

2. The U.S. should shift the Battle from Afghanistan into Pakistan.

3. The U.S. should focus on the development of Pakistan’s government and armed forces.

Position Paper #3

Who is/are the authors?

1. This passage was written by Tariq Ali who wrote this for the New Left Review.

Thesis:

1. The United States cannot be a stabilizing force in Afghanistan, and should withdraw in favor of a peace initiative by countries of the region.

Three Main Arguments:

1. Like the British and the Russians found out the Afghans do not like being occupied.

2. The Taliban’s rising support is due to our occupation and aggressive actions towards Afghanistan.

3. We should withdraw from Afghanistan, but make a regional pact that would help secure stability in Afghanistan for the next 10 years.

Position Paper #4:

Who is/are the authors?

1. The author is George Will who wrote this article for the Washington Post. The article is named “Time to get out of Afghanistan.”

Thesis:

1. The U.S. objectives in Afghanistan are unattainable. Its forces should be significantly reduced and its future military strategy in the region should be based offshore.

Three Main Arguments:

1. The Taliban can evaporate, and then re-appear, confident that the U.S. forces will forever be too few to hold gains.

2. Job programs and local government services might entice many ‘accidental guerrillas’ to leave the Taliban.

3. Afghanistan never had a effective central government, and this could be a large part of the problem.

Children in the Taliban

1. Why do children join the Taliban.

-There are many reasons that a child might join the Taliban, such as bombings that killed family members, or fear that the Taliban might kill them, but the main reason that children join the Taliban is the indoctrination from an early age. The schooling systems, especially in Pakistan, have deteriorated. Because of this religious schools, such as madrassas, have formed and started to teach children about extremist Islam, and other "usefull" skills such as suicide bombings, and how to use Kalashnikovs. The reason that the children choose to go to the schools is their want to learn, and pressure from their family, or community.

2. How has the war affected children.

-The war has affected children in many ways, but the two most notable ways that the children are effected is girls not being able to go to school, and children being forced out of their villages. Due to the strict sharia law that the Taliban impose on the people under their control women are for domestic work, thus they have no reason to be educated, or to be outside. Another way that children are affected is the moving of villages due to the violence. If a village is a hotspot for Taliban and US/NATO fighting then many families will move due to the lack of saftey in their current situation.

3. Are US drones effective.

-In many cases the US drones are effective, because they kill who they want to, but in many cases there is collateral damage. One example of this is a young boy who had a member of a family killed by a drone attack. The attack was labeled a success by the army because it killed the Taliban officer that was targeted, but in the process they recruited another soldier for the Taliban. Another example of the drone, type attacks is when the Pakistani army razed a town that had many Taliban insurgents living in it. Although the goal was achived, all of the Taliban insurgents were killed the inhabitants that survived, and many other people around Afghanistan and Pakistan then had resentment towards the Pakistani government for leveling an entire town with innocent inhabitants inside.

4. How and why does the Taliban continue to grow.

-The reason that the Talbian continues to grow is because of indoctrination at a very young age. The children that are indoctrinated are 6, 7, or 8 year olds. They are taught that it is ok to die for a holy cause. Another method the Taliban uses to recruit people is US/NATO attacks. The Taliban uses these attacks to make martyrs of the dead to help recruit. Because of these reasons whenever the US kills to try to help the war cause they will always up creating more enemies. The way that we need to stop the Taliban is creating an atmosphere where people can live without fear of being stoned, or beheaded so that they can start to support their own country.

Obamas Speech

Obama's plan.

1. Overwhelm Taliban with the 30,000 extra troops that he is sending to Afghanistan to allow the formation of a strong Afghani military, and civil work in rural areas to be done. ie. wells plumbing sanitation

2. Stop sending Pakistan blank checks, and force them to help with the war against the Taliban.

3. Obama is also asking NATO to send in more troops to help aid the Americans.

4. Obama will create a timetable for the withdrawal of troops from Pakistan.

Critizations.

Considering the circumstances the choices that the president has to make in this situation the one that he has chose is a good choice, however there are is one main event that should have been addressed.

1. Announcing a date for withdrawal is a very weak part of this plan. Once the date is announced the Taliban could very easily blend in with the rest of Afghanis until the date of withdrawal. Another part is if President Obama does create a time table, and the goals that he sets are not met by that time ie. Wells, construction for basic needs, and creating a Afghani force that will be able to battle the Taliban, then Obama will be forced to make a decision, to stick with his original time table, or to modify the time table based on the amount of time, and re-construction needed. In the words of Sen. John McCain "The way that you win wars is to break the enemy's will, not to announce the date that you are leaving." "

Problems in Afghanistan

Local US support-

-The United States does not have support from the local tribes. The reason for this is both resentment towards the United States, and the lack of troops on the ground in Afghanistan. When any local tribe helps the United States soldiers they tribe gets “punished” by the Taliban for helping. The Taliban have a much more convincing argument to get local support because the Taliban could kill anyone who helps the Americans. But on the other hand the Americans can not do anything to someone who supports the Taliban. This is why the Americans are not doing very well in getting support from the locals in Afghanistan. As an American soldier from bravo company stationed in the Korengal Valley has said “Nobody likes us, I don’t even think the little kids like us…” “… its like we take 1 step forward and 5 steps back.”

Taliban Revenue-

-The Taliban collects their revenue in many different ways, but some, like production of drugs, are more prominent than others. During the past few years the production of poppies, and in turn Heroine, Opium, and other opiates have been produced in much larger quantities in Afghanistan. The reason for this is revenue. After the Taliban had been “Pushed out of power” in 2001 the amount of poppy production went up dramatically.

Boarder crossing-

-One of the problems that US and NATO forces face in Afghanistan is the free crossing between the Afghanistan and Pakistani boarder. The Taliban has a safe haven for their operations in the Tribal areas across the boarder. The tribal areas in Pakistan are too “hot” for the Pakistani military to go into. On top of this the US forces could not go into Pakistan due to restrictions placed on them by the Pakistani Government. This is a big problem because it provides the Taliban an area for their base of operations.

Fear-

-The Taliban uses fear to keep the people in line. They use tactics such as beheadings, and public stoning to instill fear into the Afghani people. This is very hard for the US and NATO forces to combat, because they can not use fear to control. The options presented to the locals are help the US and get beheaded, or otherwise publicly humiliated, or don’t help the US and NATO forces and be left alone.

What do you believe part 2

This is the entire list of religions.

1.	Unitarian Universalism (100%)
2.	Secular Humanism (93%)
3.	Liberal Quakers (81%)
4.	Nontheist (72%)
5.	Theravada Buddhism (69%)
6.	Neo-Pagan (67%)
7.	Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (66%)
8.	New Age (61%)
9.	Sikhism (55%)
10.	Mahayana Buddhism (50%)
11.	Baha'i Faith (48%)
12.	Orthodox Quaker (48%)
13.	Reform Judaism (44%)
14.	Taoism (44%)
15.	Jainism (38%)
16.	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (34%)
17.	Hinduism (34%)
18.	Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (27%)
19.	Orthodox Judaism (27%)
20.	Scientology (26%)
21.	Eastern Orthodox (25%)
22.	Islam (25%)
23.	Roman Catholic (25%)
24.	Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (24%)
25.	New Thought (24%)
26.	Seventh Day Adventist (24%)
27.	Jehovah's Witness (13%)

My highest ranked eastern religion was Theravada Buddhism.

Theravada Buddhism believes in your past experiences, learning from those experiences, and common sense or reasoning, rather than following "Blind Faith." Theravada Buddhism also emphasizes listening to elders, and learning from their experiences so that you dont make the same mistakes.

In Theravada Buddhism there are four noble truths.

1. Dukkah- Dukkah mainly refers to suffering. Within Dukkah there are three catagories of suffering. The first is day-to-day suffering, this refers to suffering like aging, sadness, sickness, and death. The second category of Dukkah is suffering due change. This could mean that if you are in a happy place, or part of your life and something changes, for example a shortage of food, or work, and you have to move to a different area, that would be suffering due to change. And the third type of suffering is Sankhara Dukkha. Sankhara Dukkha is very subtle, and it can best be explained as "Beings suffer simply by not realizing that they are mere aggregates with no definite, unchanging identity."

2. Dukkha Samudaya- Dukkha Samudaya refers to the cause of suffering. This can best be explained as a attachment, craving, or bondage that then leads to suffering. Dukkha Samudaya can be divided into three subcategories. The first is Kama Tanha. Kama Tanha is the craving for any object that involves sound, taste, touch, smell, or sight. The second subcategory is Bhava Tanha. Bhava Tanha is the want, or craving for ongoing existance. And the final subcategory is Vibhava Tanha. This subcategory is the craving to end a process, or to detach oneself from a process, or the want for self annihilation.

3. Dukkha Nirodha- Dukkha Nirodha refers to the cessation of suffering. Dukkga Nirodha is best understood by this quote from the Buddah. "One cannot possibly adjust the whole world to one's taste in order to eliminate suffering and hope that it will remain so forever. This would violate the chief principle of Change. Instead, one adjusts one's own mind through detachment so that the Change, of whatever nature, has no effect on one's peace of mind." This can be more easily understood as the termination of cause terminates the result.

4. Dukkha Nirodha Gamini Patipada- Dukkha Nirodha Gamini Patipada refers to the path to enlightenment or nirvana. This can only be achieved through moral paths, and the right moral and ethical decisions.