Agumentative - Research Paper Example

Although this may be the first major offensive made under the Obama administration, this is actually just the more recent attempt by US forces and its allies to destroy terrorist organizations in Central Asia and the adjacent Middle East, particularly in Iraq. However, the war on Al Qaeda and its local counterpart in Afghanistan, the Taliban, is already nearly a decade old but there are still no signs that it is going to end soon victoriously for the US and its allies. Ever since the Bush administration began waging the War on Terror, with 9/11 as the pretext, the only results achieved were deaths and destruction of civilian populations and structures.

As a result, serious debates on the US policy of direct military intervention in countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq have occurred. In fact, this issue was highlighted in the presidential elections of 2008. While military solutions have yet to achieve positive results for the people of Central Asia, alternative and peaceful means of solving the problem in the region have been proven successful. Although these have not been provided enough attention from the international media, these constructive efforts have gained the trust and appreciation of the people northern Pakistan.

An effective strategy of quelling the Taliban has been developed by an American civilian and his dedicated group of development workers. However, it is not their abhorrence of terrorism or of the violent tendencies of Islamic fundamentalism that prompted them to intentionally deprive Taliban of a more fertile seedbed. David Mortenson and his organization, Central Asia Institute, has been building schools and transforming the lives of the Balti people in Pakistan’s Karakoram region through education and development projects merely out of human compassion.

(Mortenson 24) Their effort is not just a minor aspect in a larger US design of crushing terrorism in Central