Ten years into the war in Afghanistan, where do we stand? Have me made progress since the 2008 Frontline Report? What advice would you give the the President as to the course of action from this point forward?
Afghanistan Crossroads
10 years on, Afghan Americans see lost opportunities
U.S. Recalibrates Remarks About Pakistan
Karzai accuses Pakistan of supporting terrorists
India and Afghanistan sign security and trade pact
U.S. drone strike kills Haqqani insider
Wallstreet Journal Interview w/ Adm. Mike Mullen
Due Wednesday 10/19 @ 7:30 am.
29 comments:
Kerry Chavoya
Ten years into the war in Afghanistan the United States has killed Osama Bin Laden and also the Taliban has been forced out of power. These were the two biggest accomplishments since being at war. But many people believe that there is little to no hope for Afghanistan. Afghan Americans that have gone back to their homeland to rebuild believe that “today’s Afghanistan is in many ways worse off than it was when they came to help.” In Afghanistan there is not a lot of support, and money doesn’t seem to be going to places it should. People who go back to visit think that their homeland is unfixable and believe there is nothing that they can do. The government has no control and policies are failing. There has been little change since the 2008 Frontline Report, such as killing both Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein and also making sure the Taliban doesn’t have too much control. But many people believe that besides that, the United States isn’t really making progress in Afghanistan. The Taliban won’t listen to them, and the army never knows who to trust. The advice I would give the President as to the course of action from this point forward would be to slowly remove troops from Afghanistan to end the war because there isn’t enough progress happening every day and that is what is needed.
Ten years into the Afghanistan war we have a new and hopefully bright outlook however are disappointed on how long it took us to get to this point. First of all the United States has been taking out leaders of the Taliban and Al Queda by the means of covert missions and predator drones over the last few years. One major leader that the United States was able to assassinate was Osama Bin Laden the former Leader of Al Queda. The progress has been minimal and slow but it has been there the United States has pushed the Taliban out of control in Afganistan and diminished their presence in Pakistan. My advice to the president at this point would be that americans are tired of the war and don't want to here your 3 year, 4 year, or 5 year plan they want you to make a decision "all in" or "all out" plain and simple.
Ten years later into the Afghanistan war, the United States has not made much progress. I believe something needs to change. All we are doing is allowing innocent men and women risk their lives. The United States is out to help the Afghan government and to do something with the Taliban. The only progress we have made was the killing of Osama Bin Laden. There are a few things I believe the President should change about our involvement. First I think we should somehow compromise because we are getting nowhere. Also I believe the President should remove all soldiers because there is no reason for troops to be fighting in one war for over 10 years. Times have changed and I think the people of the United States and Afghanistan have too. Also way too much money is going into this never ending war and is being wasted, because it’s time to end it.
After 10 years into the war in Afghanistan, the United States has made little progress. Although the attack on Afghanistan was inevitable, it didn’t help the United States accomplish much. The only major things that happened since the 2008 Frontline report was the assassination of Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban has been forced out of power. More than 2,700 troops have died during these ten years. Obama sent even more troops out after the casualty number rose in 2009. Many people there believe the United States is helping their government modernize and are thankful for that, but at the same time, thousands of people’s homes and lives are being destroyed. I would advise the president to eventually pull all of the soldiers out of Afghanistan. If barely any progress can be made within a ten year time period, it is clear that attempting to go further isn’t worth it. This war is wasting too much money and taking too many lives for something that is going nowhere.
Ten years into the war in Afghanistan and sadly the United States stands essentially defeated. The war has been deteriorating for some time now; the soldiers appear disillusioned and the Afghan locals are generally unhelpful towards the American soldiers in fear of retribution and punishment by the Taliban. Afghanistan is a twisted web of mountains, dangerous terrain, the Taliban and crossed loyalties. As the Taliban grows stronger, the Afghani government grows weaker. I don’t believe that we have made much progress since the 2008 Frontline Report. Any assassinations that are occurring are for naught because the assassinated Taliban leader just gets replaced, sometimes by someone even more ruthless and powerful. Our troops and resources are dwindling; our country is trillions and trillions of dollars in debt and the ten years we have been fighting in Afghanistan have amounted to relatively nothing. The advice I would give the President would be to retreat as soon as possible, to get the troops out immediately. There doesn’t appear to be any crisis dictating that the troops continue to stay in Afghanistan; the “war” is mostly lost. The two options the United States has are to either massively reinforce or get out. And massively reinforcing is impossible, unproductive and a terrible idea. Our country needs to put its priorities straight.
Ten years into the war and we are still going at it with little signs of progress. People are still being brutally executed in Afghanistan by local warlords in outrages ways. Other countries are starting to work together like India and Afghanistan who sign a security and trade pact. We have moved forward but are starting to stretch things out. The progress we have made since the 2008 frontline report has not been that significant. It’s sad to see U.S. troops committing suicide, as they can’t take being in war any longer. Many of our troops have been out and 3, 4 even 5 deployments which for most is way to many. Many Afghan Americans have moved back to their homeland and have tried to rebuild but with all the bombing it has been hard for them. Honestly I would not know what advice I could give the president as what to do for the course of action from this point forward. I guess I would just say keep moving forward and try to do things that benefit out troops who are doing an awesome job protecting the country. It would suck to have our kids and grand kids grow up in a war and end up fighting our war so we definitely need to come up with a plan soon.
Alyssa
Since the 2008 frontline report, we have not made much progress. Osama Bin Laden has been killed by the United States.This is one of the major accomplishment the U.S has achieved. Since Afghanistan has little money and no support, the government seems to be growing weaker. They have no control over anything. Even though Osama Bin Laden has been killed, the U.S has not been making any more progress. It seems like we have been in this war for 10 years and getting nothing more accomplished. I think the president should remove the troops as soon as possible. The country is in debt and we are not getting anywhere in Afghanistan.
According the the 2008 Frontline Report, the next president faced several issues regarding the war in Afghanistan. There were not enough troops or resources being committed to the effort, the population was not cooperative, the terrain made control and operations difficult, and the Pakistani government was proving to be an unreliable ally. Now, after ten years in Afghanistan, it still appears that the United States has made little significant progress. We have broken up Al Qaeda, but they still remain, scattered, throughout the region. The tribal region between Afghanistan and Pakistan is particularly frustrating, especially because the Pakistani government has been ambiguous in terms of its intentions. It claims to be on our side in the effort against terrorism, but there is still news about attacks against the U.S. being linked to its spy agency, the ISI. The ISI is said to be working with the Haqqani Network, and Pakistan is refusing to address this. Also, Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai recently signed a security and trade pact with India, thus further alienating the Pakistani government. Karzai’s government is known to be corrupt and inefficient, and in order to make any progress in Afghanistan, this has to be addressed first. We have been trying to win over the majority of the population, but it has become clear that they are more likely to cooperate with the Taliban. Whether this is done out of fear or genuine conviction is hard to say. However, the United States has no right to come in and force them to live a certain way. Our main goal right now should be the defense of our own country against terrorism.However, I’m not saying we should pull out of Afghanistan with nothing to show for it; the troops have sacrificed too much for that to be acceptable. What we need is a shift away from directly fighting the Taliban for Afghanistan, and a stronger focus on reforming the government so that they may be able to take over the fight when we leave the region. Perhaps now, with India assuming a larger role in the conflict, Afghanistan may be able to achieve more stability, but our own presence has not proven to be very effective. We have come to understand that Afghanistan is a country that is accustomed to waging wars against invasions, and we will continue to make little progress unless we change our strategy.
Rachel Lenoir
The war in Afghanistan has been extensive and the progress was mainly from covert operation and predator drones more over the troops. The war is also absorbing money that could be contributing to things more productive. In the documentary, they made it clear that it is hard to tell who is the enemy and who is an innocent civilian, especially when the civilians won’t help, in fear of being killed or tortured by the Taliban. We have killed many important leaders to the Taliban and Al Queda and have done enough. The rest seems hopeless and out of our hands. It definitely seems like no one appreciates the U.S troops being there so there’s no point of risking civilian and soldiers lives. I think the president has done all he could and have the troops and the U.S. withdraw from the war.
Ten years into the war in Afghanistan, America has not made much progress. Although it was clear that America would have to take some action after 9/11, very little has been accomplished in the time that troops have been there. The only things accomplished since the Frontline 2008 movie was troops have been able to kill Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban have been forced out of power. The only thing the war is allowing is for men and women to risk their lives when it is not necessary. If I could give advice to the president, I would advise him to take the troops out of Afghanistan as soon as possible. It is obvious that since little progress has been made in the ten years that American troops have been there, then it is pointless to keep them there any longer.
Ten years into the war in Afghanistan, and we have made some progress, but not a lot. Many men and women have risked there lives in this war, and we seem to have made little to no changes at all. The United States has forced the Taliban out of power and also has killed Osama Bin Laden. These have been the two largest accomplishments, since the 2008 Frontline report. We have sent troops in and out of there for ten years straight; I believe there should be a better way to solve this. I think we should keep a smaller amount of troops in Afghanistan. I only say this because, if we have some troops there, it makes the United States feel more protected. It’s been way to long, and I also think we should just make a compromise. I believe we have wasted too much money on this war, and obviously we have lost so many lives. Therefore it would be better to decrease the number of troops, make a compromise, and end this on going war.
Ten years into the war in Afghanistan, the United States stands in a precarious position. Lately the United States military has been receiving victories in the nation in the form of assassinations of the leaders of various terrorist organizations. Although this is certainly an advancement for the war on terror, many people wonder if it is too little too late. Afghan Americans who have travelled back to Afghanistan are disappointed and distraught with the rampant corruption within the government, and the poverty experienced by the public. Those who have seen the country personally within the last years are some of the few that are the most disappointed with the little progress that the United States has made in the ten years it has been involved in the war in Afghanistan.
It is incredibly difficult to measure the progress that the United States has made in Afghanistan since the Frontline 2008 Report because they are such a wide variety of contributing factors. For instance, some of the major problems that Obama faced when he came into office in 2008 were the rugged landscape that US troops were unfamiliar with, various corrupted governments and armies, and a minimal number of troops and resources designated to the war effort. Many of these issues are still holding the US military back today, despite their best efforts to persevere. One area that the US has made great strides in is, again, assassinating the heads of various terrorist organizations. Aided by predator drones and soldiers, the US military has taken a very active role in finding and removing the threat of leaders of organizations such as Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Despite these successes, the American military is still fighting a brutal battle on the ground. The majority of the filming of the Frontline special took place in a valley that contained military bases. After the filming of the special wrapped, however, the US military had to abandon that post and attempted to bargain with the terrorist organizations to organize an agreement for a safe exit for US troops. These many different scenarios highlight the fact that although the US has made some large advances in Afghanistan, we are still facing many of the initial obstacles and have had had many setbacks as well.
In my opinion, and looking at the facts provided, I believe that the US troops still stationed in Afghanistan should be removed. The military stationed in Afghanistan faces dreadful conditions, and although playing a very noble role, recently have been making very little advances. Many of the US military’s largest successes have been assassinations made by predator drones, while their largest successions have been made by ground troops. So in my line of thinking, why should these brave men and women be fighting for their lives almost daily against what seems like dismal chances? In conclusion, I think that US troops should be removed from Afghanistan because it is unnecessary to keep them in such a dangerous region when our greatest achievements were made by un-manned predator drones that require no American troops put in harm’s way.
Ten years into the war, Osama bin Laden is finally dead. His death marks a monumental moment in the war, for up until that point it seemed the goal of his assassination would never be reached. The United States armed forces contiune to target leaders of of the taliban with predator drones and attacks, though for the most part the war in afghanistan is slowly coming to an end. Obama has stated that by 2012 all troops will be withdrawn, and I believe the war is more favorable to the public now. Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein have both been killed, and a decade of war seemed to have done its job. I believe the war is taking a positive turn and that the United States has made slow but deliberate progress in acheiving its goals.
Ten years into the war in Afghanistan, we still have troops stationed there and are seeming to make almost a minimal amount of progress. In the beginning, the United States had a clear, justifiable reason for invading the area; however, as the decade has progressed, the motives for our being there are becoming more askew. The United States doesn’t seem to have an exact set goal, but the general idea of their occupation of the area is to essentially bring down the Taliban. The United States most obvious accomplishment was killing Osama Bin Laden as well as several other Taliban leaders. Thus, not that much progress has been made overall, but it’s a huge difference since the 2008 Frontline Report. I would advise the President to just give up and pull as many troops as he can out of Afghanistan. The war is costing the country too much money and too many lives of military personnel. Some troops may need to remain there, because the country is unstable; however, it’s not really our problem and we don’t really have the ability to do anything else to change the way the country is run.
Catherine Dykty
Ten years into the war in Afghanistan, the United States’ objectives in Afghanistan have changed drastically since we entered the war. We set out to seek revenge for the attacks of 9/11 and force the Taliban from power to prevent future attacks. Since the 2008 Frontline Report on this, Osama bin Laden has been assassinated by American troops. This was originally one of our main goals of the involvement in Afghanistan. However, after achieving this goal, American troops have remained in Afghanistan, hoping to help the Afghans create a stable government, and therefore a more peaceful country. In my opinion, after ten years of involvement, we should not still be involved. We succeeded in securing our own peace and there are more important issues in our own nation that we should be focusing our attention and money towards, rather than helping another country’s government.
It has been ten years since the war in Afghanistan began and U.S. troops have made little progress in the mission they have been sent there to complete. Although some progress has been made such as temporarily taking the Taliban out of power, overall there is still a lot to be done before Afghanistan can really be considered a successful mission. Even though the Taliban is not in power at the moment, if the U.S. troops were to leave, the people would have no protection against the Taliban resuming power. This is part of the reason why the efforts in Afghanistan at the moment are so futile, because both the Afghani people and we the American people know that we cannot keep troops in Afghanistan forever. The people cannot trust us and our protection because it is only temporary. There is no final solution to the problem in sight, because there will always be more Taliban ready to resume power once our troops leave. We have limited resources as far as troops, but the Taliban do not. They can never be completely eradicated. Although I feel badly for the people who will suffer under the Taliban regime I do not know a solution that would help them indefinitely. I feel that sooner or later we will have to pull out without a victory and I do not think that we should pointlessly be killing our own men to get to the same conclusion we will in several years without these fatalities. I would advise Obama or the next president to start withdrawing troops as soon as possible. It is unfortunate, but I do not think that there is anything left that can be done to help the people of Afghanistan.
After 10 years in the war in Afghanistan, America has made little progress. Although the original attack on Afghanistan was highly supported and inevitable, the conflict is now out of hand. America has made some significant advancements since the 2008 Frontline report, such as assassinating Osama Bin Laden and other major leaders of Al Queda and pushing the Taliban out of power. However, the general outlook does not appear in America’s favor. The people in Afghanistan have been at war for years; they are accustomed to war. It does not seem like they are willing to give up any time soon. The people of Afghanistan are willing to have their children continue the war effort. America can not afford to continue this long, as it will waste money and needlessly end thousands of lives. I would advise the President to focus on reforming Afghan government so they may fight the Taliban themselves, but also to pull out all troops as soon as possible. This solution allows America to save money and lives, but also makes sure that our efforts in Afghanistan don’t go to waste.
After 10 years into the war in Afghanistan, I can confidently say that the United States is making little to no progress. We aren't really helping anymore, and we lose more and more troops every week. Supposedly we are there to help regulate their government and get rid of the Taliban. Even if we could make the government stronger, once we left the Taliban would just take over again. Although we have killed Osama Bin Laden and many Taliban leaders, the advantage they have is that they are prepared to fight a war to last many decades if they have to. We definitely are not up for this, and the Taliban knows that. Another thing that is a disadvantage for us is that the locals, and villagers in the mountains don't want to offer any information. They may be getting threatened by the Taliban, or they might just feel obligated to not help the Americans because Afghanistan is their home country. If I were president Obama I would probably slowly remove all of the troops in Afghanistan, because to me the lives being lost isn't worth it especially if we aren't making progress. However, if Obama doesn't want to forfeit this conflict, he could send in a lot of troops in a short period of time and try to totally stop the Taliban for good. Those are two options he has, and it will be interesting to see which one he ends up choosing
cody rogers
ten years in to the war in afghanistan, we have killed Osama Bin Laden and we are slowly killing leaders of the taliban. since the 2008 frontline report, we have made a lot of progress in my eyes. the U.S troops have done what they were there to do and Obama stated that he hopes to have all troops back in the year 2012. if i were to give advice to president obama, i would get out of afghanistan as soon as possible so they can come home to their families.
Ten years into the Afghanistan war and the progress very little and slow progress. Since the 2008 Frontline report the only significant things that happened was the assassination of Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban was forced out of power. Throughout this ten-year war 2,7000 troops have been killed: 1,780 American, 328 British and 157 Canadian. Also, since casualties has risen in 2009 when a coalition of 517 troops were killed Barak Obama has order 33,000 more troops to got to Afghanistan. I think that Obama should start to pull out some of the troops from Afghanistan. I think that it is unnecessary to have that many troops in Afghanistan because we already killed Bin Laden and removed the Taliban. Our presence in Afghanistan is no longer needed and dangerous to civilians. Troops start being pulled from Afghanistan because this war has been stretched out for too long. I think that only a small portion of the troops to held rebuild Afghanistan and ensure Afghan civilians safety.
Ten years into the Afghani war, little progress has been made. Leaders we continue to kill will continue to be replaced. Soldiers we deploy will continue to be ambushed by targets they can not hit. If the U.S. is looking to make drastic changes to the power and influence of the taliban in the middle east, perhaps shooting at them is not the best solution.
Ten years into the war in Afghanistan and not much progress has been made. Many soldiers have lost their lives fighting in the war, but there has been little progress. The United States has finally killed Osama Bin Laden, and that is a huge moment for us. The soldiers continue to go after Taliban leaders in hopes of eventually ending this war. American soldiers are hoping to help Afghanistan create and maintain a stable government, but this has taken much longer than expected. After ten years of fighting this war, I think it would be best for us to leave Afghanistan. If we have not done what we went there to do yet, then we should not waste another ten years there not doing anything.
The Afghanistan conflict is at a standstill in the aspect of a winner. We have a lot of soldiers in the country trying to fight the Taliban, but the Taliban have a vast group of supporters as well. They attack the US soldiers on a daily basis and are dealing slight damage that while it is not devastating, it does lower the morale of the soldiers. Since the 2008 frontline report, there has not been much progress. The same strategies are being used but they are not creating much success. One of the main problems that cause this is that the Taliban blend in with society and are waging a guerrilla war. This is making it extremely hard to find the Taliban soldiers and to differentiate between them and civilians. I would advise the president to remove a large amount of soldiers from Afghanistan. He should leave a small group of soldiers there for small missions such as spying on soldiers or preventing terrorist outbreaks. The rest of the troops, however, should definitely be removed for two main reasons. The first is that the soldiers are not accomplishing very much in the conflict. The second is that the extra soldiers are costing the United States of America a lot of money for a unworthy cause.
Kelly Gunneson
We are now ten years into the war in Afghanistan and much of the problems Afghanistan in 2001 are still present in 2011. The US has made very little progress in their great battle to reach peace in Afghanistan. There is still a great deal of violence and destruction in Afghanistan regardless of the efforts the US has made. Many people die each day due to this unnecessary violence. Since the 2008 Frontline Report, the US has not made much progress. The US has killed Osama Bin Laden and removed the Taliban from power. These were major steps towards the US being successful in reforming Afghanistan, but these events did not have a large impact on the general public in Afghanistan. As stated above, there is still a lot of violence, death, and destruction in Afghanistan everyday. The US still faces the same problem with reforming the Afghanistan public as it did in 2001. I would advise President Obama to instruct the military to preoccupy themselves less with major problems within the government but the roots of the problems within the general public. By discovering the roots with the population, the US can find the major issues in Afghanistan and help the country make progress.
Ten years into the war in Afghanistan, U.S troops have made very little if not any headway. When U.S armed forces do make headway it seems as if they mush fall back from the area that they are in, due to the long and rigorous shifts troops take. The insurgency is way more determined and will to fight for way longer than we do. Also it is in America's best interest to leave Afghanistan to maintain better relations in the middle east, where the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq are seen as unneccasarry and hurting to civilians. My advice to the president on what to do with the current situation in Afghanistan is to take the troops out in the most cost accounting manner. This ten year attack on the insurgency has not been helping the U.S economy either, therefore by ending it, it may be beneficial for the economy.
If it's not in, it's LATE!
Test
back in 2001 our troops were sent to Afghanistan to combat the taliban and to find Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind of the attack on the world trade center on september 11th. ten years later we are still in Afghanistan. this is America's longest war. we are still there even after completing our original objective of hunting down and killing osama bin laden. we have suppressed the taliban but as our troops learned in vietnam it is no simple task to drive the enemy when they blend in with the civilian population. so at this point in the war we are losing lives without no real result and forward progression.
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