Topic: Afghanistan and the Cold War Thesis Statement: The cold war was fought on many fronts but the role that Afghanistan had in it would be one of the most pivotal conflicts that would decide the fate of the Cold War’s reign over the two powerful nations in America and Soviet Union. Primary Sources: Carter, J. (2014). Speech on Afghanistan (January 4, 1980)—Miller Center. [online] Millercenter.org. Available at: http://millercenter.org/president/carter/speeches/speech-3403 [Accessed 15 Sep. 2014]. This address by then President Carter reports to the nation on the grim implications of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, because it threatens solidity and peace in the region. The President outlined the economic and political restrictions he …show more content…
and the U.S., Rubin spent decades deliberating upon best practices for saving Afghanistan from its chronic tribulations. His sustained analyses and advocacy are compiled here, addressing a time frame from the late 1980s to the start of the Obama administration. Rubin makes important points along the way, including the need for statecraft objectives to be matched by adequate resources to achieve them, and the predictable dangers inherent in a border region as "underdeveloped and over armed"" as the ambiguously defined Afghan-Pakistani frontier. Praised by a colleague as a "voice for reconciliation,"" Rubin hopes that America can "negotiate with the Taliban," a wish that evinces his steadfast belief that violent fanatics can be dissuaded from extremism through diplomacy or pressure tactics. The book’s time period excludes recent events as crucial as Osama bin Ladens assassination and the likelihood of Pakistan’s complicity in harboring him, the enhanced drone campaign of the Obama administration, and Obama’s determination to withdraw from this exhausting theater of war by …show more content…
The Secretary-General’s office became one of the few instruments in the UN system with the power to influence international relations, albeit in limited ways. As Afghanistan emerged from one war in 1989, it risked falling into another involving the various Afghan stakeholders left to fight each other in the wake of their victory over the Soviets. The office of the Special Representative to the Secretary-General emerged as a key exponent of “quiet diplomacy,” the powers of the world shuffled to keep the Afghan revolt as a small piece to a giant puzzle. The operating environment was saturated with mistrust as a result of superpower tensions, regional agendas, ethno-religious differences, and a highly militarized landscape. This article considers the geopolitical, institutional, operational, and personal dimensions of this diplomatic campaign from the time of Soviet withdrawal until 1992. Ultimately, the campaign’s limitations overwhelmed its advantages and the Afghan state dissolved into a dark period of warlords and violence. This article explores the reasons for the eventual failure of diplomacy and its implications for quiet diplomatic efforts that have resurfaced in Afghanistan since
After the end of WW2, two major governmental institutions, the USA and the USSR, with conflicting political ideologies and agendas, set forth to dominate each other in international politics. This period of time, also known as the Cold War, initiated an era of crazed hysteria in the United States as these two governments frequently clashed and bitterly fought. As a result, the frightened public grew delirious as the world grew dangerously close to a calamitous nuclear war, which ultimately prompted the Eisenhower administration to hinder the spread of communism and encourage the U.S. population to rapidly pursue higher education for the future welfare of this nation.
Smith, Gordon. “Canada in Afghanistan: Is it working?” Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute, 2007.
Jimmy Carter's one-term administration is associated with the occasions that overpowered it—expansion, vitality emergency, war in Afghanistan, and prisoners in Iran. After one term in office, voters unequivocally rejected Jimmy Carter's straightforward however melancholy standpoint for Ronald Reagan's telegenic positive thinking. In the previous two decades, in any case, there has been more extensive acknowledgment that Carter, in spite of an absence of experience, stood up to a few tremendous issues with unfaltering quality, valor, and optimism. Alongside his ancestor Gerald Ford, Carter must be given acknowledgment for restoring the equalization to the sacred framework after the abundances of the
The foreign and domestic policies during the Cold War lead to both the separation of world powers and the fear of political and social systems throughout the world. After World War 2 had ended, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union heighted. The agreements made at the Yalta Conference between Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt , were not being followed by the Soviets. The Soviet Union kept the land they reconquered in Eastern Europe and did not enforce a democratic government in those countries, as they promised. Instead, the Soviet Union decided to continue spreading communism in their reconquered lands. The United States’ feared the spread of communism and attempted to do anything in its power to stop it. Before the United
President Jimmy Carter assumed the role as Commander-in-Chief with very little experience in foreign policy, hence why the few diplomatic achievements and foreign affairs he orchestrated were overlooked due to being too regionalized and or utterly ineffective. Carter was a sensational humanitarian, with the emphasis of his foreign policy on human rights, but it was also his kryptonite to being an effective leader. His policy efforts to achieve peace took decades to see results, and moreover ironically produced greater global instability and never established peace. Carter’s international campaign to bring awareness towards human rights and the negative impacts of communism on the people lives failed because “By the time Carter became
Carter sent Ali, a boxing legend and gold medalist on a tour of Africa. State Department officials from the United States were sent to India in January 1980 to convince Muhammad Ali to help them gain the support of African countries for a proposed boycott of the Summer Olympics in Moscow. The White House knew that they would be embarrassed if they failed to get other nations to support their boycott, which could make the America’s choice to sit out the games ineffective. The president was in dire need of help in convincing other countries to take part in the boycott, so he asked Muhammad Ali for assistance. The boxing legend also took offense to Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan, and agreed to help. However, before Ali left for his diplomatic tour of Africa, he met late at night with Yuli Vorontsov, who was the Soviet ambassador to India. Voronstov tried to talk Ali into not making the trip. However, Vorontsov had failed to convince Ali, and the boxer slept during his entire flight to Africa before arriving in Africa poorly informed. The president of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere, was insulted by the fact that Jimmy Carter had sent an athlete to discuss the boycott, and then refused to meet with Ali. Carter soon called to check in with Ali to hear that things were not going as planned, and one member of the delegation said, “Ali began to talk
“Over the past century, Canadian attitudes towards the use of force and the exercise of military power in support of national aims have fundamentally shifted”. This is a quote written by Major Todd Strickland in his article, titled, “From the Boers to the Taliban: How Canadians Attitudes towards War Have Changed”. This article reviews Canada’s history within the wars and also Canadian’s thoughts on war. The Afghan war began in 2001 and is still ongoing today. The war began due to the terrorist attacks that took place in the United States on September 11th, 2001, also known as 9/11. The purpose of this war was to invade Afghanistan and to disassemble an organization, known as the al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Another objective was to dismantle the Taliban government. The Taliban government was simply to blame for the deaths of so many Americans on 9/11. The leader, brains and financial support behind this organization was one by the name of Osama bin Laden. Because his country did not surrender him, the United States made the decision to declare war on Afghanistan and fight for those who lost their lives in 9/11. Canada became involved in the Afghan War very quickly after the attacks of 9/11. Because the Afghanistan war is a war that is constantly covered by the media, it makes the information overwhelming. To narrow the topic down, this paper will focus mainly on the Canadian’s involvement in the Afghanistan war. Violent political wars have been reoccurring for as long as anyone can remember, and the intensity of this violence continues to rise. The magnitude of political violence involved, the main interpretations on the causes of political violence, and the prospects for conflict resolution are all topics that will be covered...
Odd Arne Westad, Director of the Cold War Studies Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science, explains how the Cold War “shaped the world we live in today — its politics, economics, and military affairs“ (Westad, The Global Cold War, 1). Furthermore, Westad continues, “ the globalization of the Cold War during the last century created foundations” for most of the historic conflicts we see today. The Cold War, asserts Westad, centers on how the Third World policies of the two twentieth-century superpowers — the United States and the Soviet Union — escalates to antipathy and conflict that in the end helped oust one world power while challenging the other. This supplies a universal understanding on the Cold War (Westad, The Global Cold War, 1). After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union opposed each other over the expansion of their power.
There have been many attempts to explain the origins of the Cold War that developed between the capitalist West and the communist East after the Second World War. Indeed, there is great disagreement in explaining the source for the Cold War; some explanations draw on events pre-1945; some draw only on issues of ideology; others look to economics; security concerns dominate some arguments; personalities are seen as the root cause for some historians. So wide is the range of the historiography of the origins of the Cold War that is has been said "the Cold War has also spawned a war among historians, a controversy over how the Cold War got started, whether or not it was inevitable, and (above all) who bears the main responsibility for starting it" (Hammond 4). There are three main schools of thought in the historiography: the traditional view, known alternatively as the orthodox or liberal view, which finds fault lying mostly with the Russians and deems security concerns to be the root cause of the Cold War; the revisionist view, which argues that it is, in fact, the United States and the West to blame for the Cold War and not the Russians, and cites economic open-door interests for spawning the Cold War; finally, the post-revisionist view which finds fault with both sides in the conflict and points to issues raised both by the traditionalists as well as the revisionists for combining to cause the Cold War. While strong arguments are made by historians writing from the traditionalist school, as well as those writing from the revisionist school, I claim that the viewpoint of the post-revisionists is the most accurate in describing the origins of the Cold War.
In this piece of writing “What We Are Fighting For,” Rex Murphy outlines the most persuasive reasons for the existence of Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Murphy commences with the description of annihilation of Taliban government by Canada is not only because of Canadian affiliation with the USA but also because our people got killed on 9/11. Furthermore, Afghani citizens need assistance in structuring a new type of government in order to guard against potential attacks. He continues that Canadian troops stay behind in the Afghanistan to aid in the construction of the essential elements- schools, a justice system, infrastructure, roads- that any society must have. Moreover, Murphy also considers our countries support in Afghanistan from conflicting
Outline of Essay About the Origins of the Cold War OUTLINE: Introduction- 1. Definition of ‘Cold War’ and the Powers involved 2. Perceived definition of ‘start of Cold War’ 3. Iron Curtain Speech, Truman Doctrine and Berlin Blockade as significant events that caused strife between both powers, but which triggering off the start of the Cold War Body- 1. Iron Curtain Speech (1946) - A warning of Soviet influence beyond the acknowledged Eastern Europe - Churchill’s belief that the idea of a balance in power does not appeal to the Soviets - Wants Western democracies to stand together in prevention of further
President James “Jimmy” Carter’s inauguration speech is full of contrasts. He speaks of the United States being a “purely idealistic nation,” but he also recognizes the need for strength. He states we “cannot dwell upon remembered glory,” while at the same time saying he has “no new dream to set forth today, but rather urge a fresh faith in the old dream.” President Carter came to the presidency during a period of healing for the nation. He would lead a nation in transition, but struggle to give strong leadership.
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.
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.
Opalisime After World War II there was a strong anti-communist movement in America for decades prior to the 1950s. Nuclear weapons also sent a shot at distrust and fear between America and Russia. Information about nuclear weapons is very limited to the public. There are some facts, details, and reasons on why this war happened, the effects of the Cold War, and how society reacted to the War. It began in the 1945-1948 timeframe and ended in 1989, having been a dispute over the division of Europe.