Afghanistan’s importance with respect to the cultural impact of globalization is increasing as the war in Afghanistan draws down. Afghanistan sits on the edge of the unknown. Once the United States leaves it will be left to create its own destiny. The eyes of the world will be on Afghanistan to see who it allies with, who it trades with and how it conducts itself.
Historically speaking, Afghanistan has modernized only when forced by invaders. The Soviet Union built many roads, schools, power plants and other infrastructure to help its newly installed puppet regime, and facilitate its movement through Afghanistan. The USSR saw Afghanistan as country in the way of its pursuit of a continuous stretch of land to connect it to the Indian Ocean. Alexander the great saw it as an obstacle in his expansion east, and Genghis Khan saw it as an obstacle in his westward expansion.
Afghanistan is like a time capsule. Many people farm for subsistence, and few are able to read or write. Afghans have been compared to Spartans in that they are a martial people who have been at war for thousands of years. The rough terrain in which they live lends itself to long periods of resistance. Time and time again they have been able to push away would be conquerors. The current war in Afghanistan stands in contrast to previous wars because its purpose is not one of conquest for land or for the exploitation of resources. The purpose of the current war in Afghanistan is to win over the Afghan people and to help them grow ideologically to assimilate into an ever more technologically advanced global environment.
Recently Afghanistan has grown significantly in terms of its ability to care for itself. A national army and a developing police force are becomi...
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The Ministery. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2012, from Ministry of Transportation and Civil Aviation: http://www.motca.gov.af/index.php?id=17
United Nations Development Programme Afghanistan. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2012, from Environment and Energy for Sustainable Development: http://www.undp.org.af/WhatWeDo/ee.htm
vision. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2012, from Ministry of Communications and Technology: http://mcit.gov.af/en/page/3
Lopez, Brendan CDT H-4 ’12. Assistance given to the author, verbal discussion. CDT Lopez edited my paper and gave me feedback on style and format. He recommended that I reword the intent behind the Soviet contributions to Afghan infrastructure. He also recommended that I discuss the lengths that the American government had gone to build cell towers in Afghanistan.
The Afghanistan insurgency between 1979 and 1989 ended with the withdrawal of the Soviet Union armed forces . This “successful” rebellion was not merely because the Soviet Union saw the Taliban as a simple Islamist movement and underestimated their resistant, but it was also believed that the special characteristics that the Taliban insurgents possess, such as motivation and strategy played important role. This article will assess the special characteristics that identify Taliban as an insurgent group, specifically on the purpose and motivation of their fight, popular support and the strategies and tactics that were used by them to expel the Soviet Union from Afghan soil. Overall, this essay argues that these three characteristics comprise some of the several causes that contributed to Soviet Union withdrawal from Afghanistan. To summarize, this essay will sequentially examine the Afghanistan’s movement features, first is the purpose and motivation, second the popular support to their movement and their strategies and tactics against Soviet Union. In addition, in the conclusion, there will be a summary of the article and some recommendations for further research in order to complete the understanding of the Afghani Mujahideen insurgency.
1. Immediately following the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, American military power sought out and aggressively attacked Al Qaeda and Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan. Within weeks, the United States removed the Taliban from governing Afghanistan and worked with the international community to establish a new democratic government led by Afghan native Hamid Karzai, who would soon be elected president. However, by 2006, the Taliban significantly increased attacks on pro-Afghan government officials, Afghan security forces, and coalition military members. The United States and partner North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members responded with a surge of military might in 2010 to make one final push to drive the Taliban out. With major ground now gained for the Afghan government in 2014, Afghanistan faces a critical crossroads in its nation’s history. After recovering areas once held by the Taliban, Afghanistan must become self-sufficient in sustaining its first democratic government. With Company Grade Officers (CGOs) in the American military key to reaching strategic objectives, a secure and democratic Afghanistan is in the national interest of the United States in order to prevent a safe-haven for international terrorist activity.
Afghanistan since its beginning has been a place of conflict, despair, and at times lost hope. It has been taken advantage of and lost its sense of identity, which has had a direct effect on its people, and there own sense of what justice truly is.
Since the year 2001, Afghanistan’s history with the United States has been very rough and destructive due to the Afghanistan War. Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, then-President George W. Bush signed a joint law resolution authorizing the use of force against those responsible for the 9/11 attack (“U.S. War in Afghanistan”). On October 7th, 2001, the US launched missile strikes against Taliban military starting the official “War of Afghanistan” (Afghanistan Profile - Timeline). Twelve days after the airstrikes, the first wave of conventional ground forces arrive in Afghanistan (“U.S. War in Afghanistan”). In August 2003, two years after the start of the war, there are now over 10,000 American soldiers fighting in Afghanistan (“U.S. War in Afghanistan”). A few years passed by without any major events during the war, until September of 2008 when President Bush sent an extra 4,500 troops to Afghanistan (Afghanistan Profile-
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...n Afghanistan. Ed. Jann Einfeld. San Diego: Greenhaven, 2005. Current Controversies. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. .
Sikal, A. (2004). In A. Sikal, Independence and Radical Modernization, In Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival. New York .
When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on December 1979, the goal was to help Afghan communist forces set up a communist government. The Soviet Union felt Afghanistan had key resources and a foothold in the Middle East to spread communist ideas. The result would be a war that the Soviet Union wishes it never got involved in and likened to their “Vietnam War”, meaning winning a number of battles but not the war like what happened to the U.S. in Vietnam. The background of the war, outcome of the war, and impact on the United States are key to understanding the Soviet-Afghan War.
Endersby, A. (2011, February 20). Afghanistan, invasion of. Retrieved May 23, 2011, from International Debate Education Association: http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=145
In 1996 the Taliban took over Afghanistan and immediately imposed their fundamentalist ideals on the citizens. They effectively did this by oppressive tactics maintaining control on their people. The Taliban, lead by spiritual leader Mohammed Omar, has used many different ways to oppress the nation of Afghanistan. One way they did was was by destroying ancient art structures that have became a huge part of their culture. These acts had a great effect on the people in Afghanistan stripped them of a very sacred symbol in their eyes. The Taliban oppression has left citizens scared and powerless.
Afghanistan has been in a constant state of chaos for twenty years. The Soviets invaded in 1979 and installed a puppet regime. After they withdrew their troops in 1989, rival mujahideen (tribal) groups began to fight for the capital. By the time the Taliban came into the picture around 1994, the country had been devastated by war. Many Afghanis had fled to neighboring countries like Pakistan. An estimated 1 million lives had been lost. Now, bad conditions still persist. Afghanistan has one of the world's worst literacy rates; only three percent of women and less then twenty percent of men can read and write (Rashid, 107). A quarter of all children die before their fifth birthday. Life expectancy is only 43-44 years (107). Simply, life is hard, especially for women.
In the hot and dry country of Afghanistan its people struggle to survive under the turmoil its government has created. Afghanistan's current government is left divided and struggling to put a solid form of government to support its people (Dupree). Afghanistan's borders is one that has been shaped by past invaders who have seeked to gain control of land to fulfill their own expansion needs. Nancy Dupree states that “Afghanistan has long been a prize sought by empire builders”(Dupree). The country's modern boundaries were set after a long lasting dispute over land between imperial Britain and tsar Russia. Afghanistan’s history is one that has been shaped and molded by the wars and battles that have scared it’s political and social views by divided
“Afghanistan too many Americans is a threat to them. People think that because of what some of the people did their all of Afghanistan is to blame. I am ashamed to see what some of the people from my country have done, but I am not ashamed to say that Afghanistan is my home country” Sameer tells me in my personal interview with him. “Alliance Doesn’t want to shift focus to Iraq…Bush Administration understood the alliance’s preoccupied with Afghanistan” (Slavin 10A). “You read it all over the news how bad Afghanistan has been since September 11, 2001” he adds. Sameer grow-up with his mother and father, and older brother. They all moved to the United States of America when Sameer was 10 years old. His father wanted his children to have the opportunity to get rich and be able to support their families. When they got here they quickly learned it was a lot harder for them to live and work in the land of opportunity. Sameer’s father had a hard time finding a job, but finally just took a job as a cashier at a local store. They lived in a small apartment until Sameer was 14 years old. This is when his father got the break they needed. He started to run and operate his own gasoline station in the town of Brentwood, Tennessee.
In the past ten years the Afghan Government has been dealing with a number of issues that have caused problems for the country, problems such as illegal drug trade, terrorism and violence. But nowadays they are fighting a problem that has long existed between people, and quite recently has taken a whole new aspect to it. Ethnic conflict is the destructive factor that has caused problems between people for generations, often leading to fights, outbreak of violence and grudge between different ethnicities.
Council, H. P. (2012). Afghanistan's vision by 2015 . Kabul: High Peace Council law committee .