Role of national security advisor of US - Essay Example

?Insert Insert Grade Insert Role of National Security Advisor of US Security is an imperative parameter thatcreates apprehension across the world when mentioned. Security issues affect the parties that are directly involved as well as those that are within the environment. For this reason, many different states take interest in security issues that affect a region or regions around the world. United States of America is among the nations in the world that have put into considerations effects of security in the world because of its concern with the economic development for different regions in the world. Various stakeholders in tackling security issues in US play different roles to establish the causes and means effectively applicable to mitigate issues of security in the world. Among the major stake holders in security issues in US are; the president, the security advisor, the director of national intelligence, the congress among others. The US security stakeholders take interest in circumstances that affect values, economic prosperity, security and international order. US security sector investigates security status, formulate policies and offer support to the regions that are affected by insecurity. In making decisions related to security, the stakeholders contribute share information that determines the course of action to be taken by the US government. The action taken by America regarding a security issue is not solely decided by the president. In this paper, I will analyze the role of the US National Security Advisor and his place in offering advice to the government and the effect on the Instrument of National Power as a result of the course of action. In this analysis, I will take into consideration the role of the US National security Advisor in the situation of Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is because the US is concerned with the future outcome of the security situation in that area. This is because of the existence of terror groups which have destabilized security of the region for many years. Terrorist groups are considered a threat to the whole world since they are believed to be trafficking weapons of mass destruction into the region (Lesson 19 pg 237). Seth Jones, the author of the article, It Takes the Villages: Bringing Change from Below in Afghanistan addresses the issues surrounding the US involvement in security issues touching Afghanistan. According to Jones, the government of US has operated with little information about the cultural dynamics that surround the area of Afghanistan. For example, the author argues that the government of US has taken military to Afghanistan while they lack information on the values of the local people. In actual sense, the author supports his work by quoting the word of the Major General Michael Flynn who attested that they are working in an area where they know very little about. Flynn was quoted to have used these words eight years in to the war between US and terrorists in Afghanistan (Jones pg 240). In tackling the security situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the US national Security Advisor will be required to change the strategy he has presented to the US government concerning the implementation of military plans in those areas. This is because there are deficiencies in the way the US has been approaching the settlement of disputes in that region. In addressing security issues, the government of US has failed to put into consideration the culture of the people of Afghanistan. This would inform decisions Americans soldiers make in planning and executing plans since activities of a people are linked to their values (Jones pg 241). It is evident that many of the American soldiers have minimal interaction with people of the rural areas of Afghanistan. To achieve settlement of disputes between the two areas, the government of US will be required to engage the allies to the warring sides and get exact information about causes of war. The government of America will need to execute a cultural study of the people of Afghanistan so that they can understand the roots of their conflict. Although restrictions to enter rural areas of Afghanistan are made by Afghans to all westerners the government of US need to get the precious information about the people’s cultural organization and structure which will be a good step towards success in curbing terrorism in that area. The National Security Advisor of US therefore needs to present to the National Security council the importance of engaging the people of Afghanistan so that they can give information that would lead to understanding the warfront. In this way the government of US will be able to carefully choose the method of entry to the venture of ending terrorism coming from those areas. The National Security Advisor will need to put into consideration the issue of careful research that should be made through interviews, use of secondary data and any other source of information about the culture of the people of the conflict regions. This will be important to inform the reasons behind the violent state of the people in that area. The research should be conducted by the government of US which require the information about the people. This should be done with a lot of caution to avoid unnecessary biases that could be introduced as a result of influence from the local people of Afghanistan. This would facilitate a strategic decision making into the way the government of US will respond to the situation of terrorism Afghanistan. In engaging the instruments of power in solving problems in Afghanistan, the government of US will need to be aware that the civilians of Afghanistan have a better understanding of the issues of insecurity and that if empowered they can be able to address it better than any other power. This is because strategies by outsiders of Afghanistan will tend to characterize all the people as a threat to security which may not be true. In this way, the US Security Advisor will need to engage the policy makers to formulate policies that will work to enhance peace in Afghanistan through the people who reside in that country. This is because on one side, the US government cannot supply enough soldiers to protect Afghan citizens and that the Afghans want to police themselves (Rubin and Rashid Pg 247). The government of US will need to train Afghanistan citizens to engage terror groups of Taliban and al Qaeda which cause insecurity in Afghanistan. The issue of empowering the Afghan National Army would be a brilliant idea for the US government. The National Security Advisor of US should advice the government to implement empowerment of Afghan army rather than engaging themselves in the war against terrorism in that area. This is because the politics surrounding the affairs in such a nation are determined by factors that are beyond tribal relationships. These factors make the intervention of foreign soldiers very difficult. In such a case for the government of US to succeed in realizing a peaceful Afghanistan, the best way to achieve it would be engaged with the local army (Jones pg 243). After the analysis of the situation of security (terrorism) in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the government of US should consider doing the following: increase the number of US soldiers in Afghanistan, support Afghan National Army, engage Afghanistan’s citizens in policing themselves by providing them with necessary training to handle the terrorists, and involve international and regional bodies to contain the issues of insecurity in Afghanistan. This presents various advantages to the US army as they pursue their national interests which include international order, value, security, and prosperity. By sending more troops to Afghanistan, the United States will intensify the war against terrorism and pursue its interest on the border. This will be achieved because the US army will reach out to many Afghanistan citizens who are suffering from the influence of terrorists. According to Miskel (pg 59), some of the roles of the US international security should be to offer support to other states in an attempt to realize peaceful coexistence. This includes their commitment to end global terrorism. According to US, lack of peace in a state or a region implies a potential threat to international security. The region of Afghanistan faced by war in this case automatically becomes part of the US commitment to sustain order in the world. Americans argue that destabilized nations are a direct threat to security of the world. For example, the threats posed by instability in countries such as Pakistan may not be realized at the moment but they are believed to be the avenues and states in which world terrorists the 9/11 terrorist attack is attributed to the instabilities weak nations (Traub pg 70-72). In attempt to achieve the national interest of value, the government of US can consider engaging Afghan citizens who will police themselves. This would ensure that these people engage terrorists in the best way without causing a lot of injury to innocent citizens. This will enhance US efforts to achieve their interest of value. The value of life will be enhanced since there will be less violent engagements in search for terrorists. Value of property will be achieved since the government will not use a lot of force to pursue terrorists. By understanding the cultures of the citizens of Afghanistan, the US army will minimize the destruction of valuable facilities and amenities of cultural and religious significance. US can achieve its national interest of prosperity by guaranteeing a secure environment for business processes. In this regard, the US army will enhance preservation of resources that are required for production. For example, US took interest in security of Democratic Republic of Congo, which is the source of coltan material used in cell phones. Instability in that part of the world caused underdevelopment because there was under-utilization of resources. This also resulted in the rising cost of the coltan material which would not only affect the mobile phone manufacturers who use coltan but also all the people around the world who use mobile phones. Ensuring that there is peace for all people in the world is important in ensuring prosperity of the world (Traub pg 69). Threats to prosperity also are posed by pirates. These have made the US take interest in the security of the world. For example, pirates in Africa not only threaten the life of Africans but also affect the whole world. For example, a US captain to a cargo ship was kidnapped by pirates until an intervention by US soldiers who killed the pirates five days after the captain was taken. Therefore, the US takes keen interest in international prosperity (Boot pg 45-46). The US participates in international security matters and can empower local armies to fight terrorist groups. The US government may do that through training and equipping national armies so that they can be used to offer security support to a particular region. In dealing with terrorism in Afghanistan, US should equip the local army to fight terrorism. This will maintain peace and respect of the people involved. The empowering also will increase the capacity of the local armies to achieve the US national interest of peace. Another course of action the US can take is to ensure international order is maintained through use of regional trade bodies. For example, trade organizations serving a region can be used to mitigate security threat within a nation or region. This is achieved through sanctioning and cooperating to send armies to warfronts to mitigate the situation. For example, when America realized that Iran is supporting Taliban and al Qaeda extremists, the US secretary on security announced the sanctioning of trade relations between the two nations. This serves to reduce the monetary power these countries may have. In this way, the terrorists will be left without resources they dearly need to operate and this would consequently promote international order (Wallace pg 302-303). The allies of US were advised to stop trading with Iranian government. In the attempt to accomplish the national interests, the government of the United States of America will need to employ various instruments of power. This means that in one or two circumstances, they will be required to use diplomacy or military or economic sanctions or even information to realize international order. This, however, will be dependent on various factors surrounding the situation of security and prevalent factors within that region. The economic engagement between US and the insecure nation or region will also play a role in choosing the way US will use its instrument of power to accomplish peace keeping in a country. In sending more number of soldiers to the battlefield, US can accomplish peace keeping in Afghanistan. This course of action can be made more effective by use of the instrument of power of information. In the case of Afghanistan, the US can use the power of information to access the information that is shared by terrorists in that country. Information communication is determined by the environment in which it is passed, this means that understanding cultural dynamics of Afghanistan would facilitate the communication by American soldiers. In such a way information will be used as a power in the process of peace keeping (Murphy pg 213). This would mean that the US will need the knowledge to interrupt communication procedures for the Taliban and al Qaeda. They can use information that would be gained through comprehensive researche on cultural structures and activities of Afghanistan citizens to establish the causes and reasons behind the prevalence of terrorism in those areas. Understanding the culture of the people will inform the media to be used to communicate. In that way, by sending the numerous soldiers to regions affected by war will increase their efficiency in attacking their enemies (Murphy pg 213). Military action is another way sending of more soldiers to Afghanistan which could realize stability. Military is an instrument of power which US uses to realize power. By sending more soldiers, therefore, they will be directly using that instrument to gain power. Another course of action which can establish peace and stability in Afghanistan by US soldiers is by engaging the Afghan National Army. In this way, the government of the United States will ensure diplomatic relationship between them and Afghanistan is maintained. This would have been relevant at the beginning of the battle against the al Qaeda and Taliban after the 9/11 attacks of the year two thousand. This course of action would be more effective in case the Afghan National Army is used because they, as opposed to US army who are not allowed accessing various rural areas of Afghanistan. This will also foster respect between the two countries. In other ways, information will be easier to get by Afghanistan soldiers than by American army officers (Fredrick pg 178). US can sensitize Afghan citizens to contribute to peace keeping by giving them training and empowering them to tackle terrorists. There have been crises when wounded Afghan people chose any side of the warring side to get treatment. If they seek treatment from the terrorist side, the Afghan national army officers implicate them as terrorists and when they seek treatment from the side of the soldiers, they are implicated by the terrorists as part of a conspiracy with foreign armies to finish fellow civilians. However, if they choose any side of the battle they risk their life (Hofman pg 346). In this case choosing to empower the local citizens to engage the terrorists would be a viable alternative for peace keeping. This would ensure diplomatic power relationships between the two countries. Choice of information to be accessed by terrorists would be carefully chosen by the people of Afghan. The government of US can realize peace and stability in Afghanistan, and consequently realizing international order by use of international and regional bodies. These will control the economic relations between a terrorist dominated nation and its neighbors. This would mean that those people will be sanctioned to transact businesses with the other countries that are within such a region. In this way, terrorists are not able to fund their plans of attack to their target. This is possible especially when instability is caused by terrorists or pirates. The US national security attacks the economic sector of the terror group which makes them powerless to conduct attacks in future. An example of how power wars of economics was employed by Americans to mitigate insecurity in an area is the sanctioning of trade between them and Iran which were believed to be supporting the al Qaeda activities in Afghanistan (Wallace pg 303). The courses of action adopted by US to curb instability in Afghanistan would have various impacts. This is because there are relationships that will need to be formulated as others get destroyed. The perspective through which the two countries see each other will vary depending on the course of action followed. As the National Security Advisor of US, I would approach the above courses of action in a way that would ensure that they implemented. This would be by giving information that will indicate the advantages and disadvantages of using any one of them. For instance, I would encourage the involvement of national security council in understanding the cultural structures of Afghanistan before venturing into mitigating the instability that is experienced in that region. Another way I would make sure that the courses of actions are followed would be by indicating the flaws that are found in the currently used strategies. In this way, I would present the above mentioned courses of action as the best alternative to the existing strategies. To make sure that the courses of actions I present in the National Decision Making are implemented, I would provide supporting information that is research based. This will act as a support to what I offer as a National security advisor. The research based support will be relevant information to validate these new ways to approach terror attacks in Afghanistan. This will make the information more reliable to follow when they are implemented. I will analyze these courses of actions in the perspective of diplomacy, economic implications to America and Afghanistan and in terms of the effects on the social systems of the people in the regions affected by terrorism. In this way I will draw the positive side of involving the people of Afghanistan to engage terrorists in their country by showing how their experience of their environment will be a strong point in addressing the stability of their country. This will be in terms of the number of people available to pursue the terrorists as well as their ease of identifying the terrorists among them. The courses of actions I present will have several effects on the region that surrounds Afghanistan. For example, the military actions against terrorists by American soldiers in Afghanistan will influence the relationships that exist between the Middle East countries that support Afghanistan and those that do not support terrorism activities. In this case, there are possibilities of creation of alliances for and against the American course of action. An example is seen in the divide that exists between Pakistan and Iran who are on different sides of the battle. The two countries are in opposition because they are having different notion about terrorism in the Afghanistan. Iran is believed to support terrorist actions while Pakistan is in opposition of the Taliban and al Qaeda. Some people may be motivated to invest in business ventures in those areas because of presumed peace as a result of the presence of military personnel in those areas. People in those areas under military surveillance, whether American or from Afghan National Army, will tend to be loyal to the government for they will be viewing the prevailing peace as a function of their government effort. Effects of war against terrorism will affect the neighbors to Afghanistan. In the courses of actions that directly involve America, the neighbors will be divided between those who like and those who are opposed to America. For example, countries that support US military action like Pakistan will be faced with a lot opposition by such like Saudi Arabia and Iran. In conclusion the courses of action advocated by the National security advisor should be based on information from research done within the area of engagement. These courses of actions should optimize the security issues of the region of concern to ensure that while they attain their goals, they will maintain relationships that are too important in life. Understanding of the culture of the local people will inform ways in which groups involved in peace keeping will respond to the security situation. This will influence their communication and their strategic attacking points. Works Cited Boot, Max , Lesson 14 Reading 1, ‘Pirates, Then and Now’, International Security Studies, Air War College Distance Learning, 2011 Hofman, Michiel, lesson 7 reading 4, ‘Dangerous Aid in Afghanistan’, International Security Studies, Air War College Distance Learning, 2011 Jones, Seth, Lesson 19 Reading 1, ‘It Takes the Villages: Bringing Change from Below in Afghanistan’, International Security Studies, Air War College Distance Learning, 2011 Rubin, Barnett and Rashid, Ahmed, Lesson 19 Reading 2, ‘From Great Game to Grand Bargain’, International Security Studies, Air War College Distance Learning, 2011 Miskel, James, Lesson 2 Reading 1, ‘Grand Strategies for Dealing with ‘\Other States in the New World Order’, International Security Studies, Air War College Distance Learning, 2011 Traub, James, Lesson 2 Reading 2, ‘Think Again: Failed States’, International Security Studies, Air War College Distance Learning, 2011 Wallace, Mark, Lesson 6 Reading 4, ‘Trading With the Enemy’, International Security Studies, Air War College Distance Learning, 2011 Read More