Reason for the War in Afghanistan - Essay Example

LEVEL: Reasons why United s of America attacked Afghanistan on 7 October 2001. Introduction Since America attained independence, the issue about terrorism has been the main challenge that all the presidents have had to deal and develop means of curbing this vice (Wright, 2007). Terrorism however seemed to be at its worst on 11 September 2001 when some militants associated with the Islamic extremist group Al-Qaeda attacked Washington D.C and New York resulting to massive losses of lives and property. The attack left over 3000 people dead including the police officers and firefighters that had been trying to rescue as many hostages as possible (Galtung, 2002). Economic consequences of these attacks are felt even a decade later. American civilians were now living in great tension as none could predict what catastrophe was going to befall the nation next. The American government had to launch the operation “global war on terrorism” to curb this vice of merciless terrorism. American government under leadership of President George W. Bush vowed to fight the terrorists irrespective of their geographical location. This war however was supported by other nations such as Britain, France, Australia, and Canada thus, the American army had troops from these nations, and this made it easier during the planning and executed of the attacks towards the enemy nations (Owen & Maurer, 2012). Among many other nations, the American government felt that there was a need to defend human rights of the vulnerable children and women in the Arab nations where mistreatment of such groups was very rampant. In this project, we will try scrutinize all the reasons that provoked the US government to plot the main attack on Afghanistan, the challenges it faced in this endeavor and the strengths that facilitated its conquest. Reasons for the US attack on Afghanistan The US plotted the attack taking terrorist mastermind who had been the leader and main organizer of the Al-Qaeda group based in that country. The Taliban government had been ruling with extremist version of Islam throughout the country hence violating countless human rights and propagating a lot of abuse on the children, women, girls, and ethnic Hazaras (Roy-Bhattacharya, 2012). The United States of America had tried to negotiate with the Taliban government to surrender Osama bin Laden for persecution but this yield no fruit. The attack forced the US government to plot the attack and use excessive force so as make sure to attain their goal. They also sort to overthrow the Taliban government since it had failed in its role in providing its citizen with basic needs and commodities such as food, water and infrastructure. Over the reign of the Taliban government, the research has it that more than 3.9 civilians lived under absolute poverty. Planning and executing of 7th October 2001 attacks was not very hard since the US had gain support from Non-Taliban alliance (Johnson, 2007). This alliance gave its support through troops, supplying of weapons and the basic information the US troops required to have while carrying out the attack on the Afghanistan grounds. It is important to note that the US government under the leadership of George Bush issued warnings to the Taliban government and threatened them with military actions. The threat thereafter resulted to the longest war in the recent history of the American combat against a foreign government (Ryan, 2014). In the mid-1990s, the US had been offering lots of assistance to the Afghanistan with hope that they are going to dance to their tune that was not so. On a personal basis, I can say this arrogance that Afghanistan exhibited also triggered a lot of aggression on the side of the American government since it is a super power nation and would always command submission from less superior nations especially from Middle East. Many people in Afghanistan and other countries against America viewed this attack as anti-Muslim religious attack however; they forgot that the Al-Qaida is not made up of true Muslims but extremists (Moore, 2014). For instance the attacks in New York and Washington DC on September 11, 2001: The perpetrators of these monstrous acts, if indeed they were Muslims, have clearly broken the rules of their religion. And because by initiating this inhuman acts of killing thousands of innocent people and rendering hundreds permanent cripples they not only broke the rules of the Islamic community, but also exhibited what can be termed as religious naivety. The Islam holy scriptures are very precise on the fact that all Islam’s should respect and protect human life (Osman, n.d.). Moreover, the holy book discourages killing of young children, women and the aged, however there a lot of this people who were killed in the attacks in United States of America (Osman, n.d.). Therefore, it clear that the Al-Qaida was nothing but an extremist group composed of terrorists. The group works were to target America as a result of the fallout in the incursion of Russian and American in the Afghanistan (U.S. Department of State, 2013). The Taliban knew not what they claimed to believe in, but, unfortunately, they faced the wrath of America who swore to fight them until the entire nation of Afghanistan was liberated from this cruel group. Despite the fact that American’s war on Afghanistan was been opposed by many nations outside the NATO coalition as some feeble-minded people suggested, "War is not the answer", but failed to state what the ‘answer was. History had shown that this was not the first attack on America, and America now had to try its level best to make it the last (Bethell, 2010). The Al-Qaida attack did not only destroy American’s beautiful landmarks but also affected the economy of this country by destroying our very important resource of human capital. Therefore, it is because the two attacks on 11th September left over 5500 people dead (Galtung, 2002). The Opponents of the pro-war idea also argued that American government should respond to these attacks using economic sanctions or any other diplomatic means rather than using war on the nations that harbored these terrorists. The Taliban government did not care so much about the welfare of the civilians so how could a threat like economic sanction scare them. This dictatorial regime was characterized by leaders who only cared about their welfare and that of their families; thus, the decline of the economy of the entire nation was not to be their biggest worry (Galtung, 2002). America bombarding Afghanistan with bombs appeared to the rest of the world as an act of cruelty (Cohn, n.d.). The attack in the wars had civilians suffer more than a terrorist. However, after the attacks at Washington DC and New York at 7 p.m., President Bush delivered a speech concerning the two attacks and blamed it all on Al-Qaida terrorists (Galtung, 2002). He said they were heartless terrorists that could not succeed in shaking American’s, but only two of its biggest steel buildings. Moreover, he rebuked that they can never succeed in shaking American’s foundation. The president of America also warned the countries that harbored these terrorists. American government was never going to distinguish the terrorists and their host countries in taking the revenge (Galtung, 2002). Two months after American troops officially entered in the boundaries of Afghanistan they managed to overthrow the Taliban government and completely seized powers from it (Galtung, 2002). The Taliban government started carrying out their campaigns in their neighboring country Pakistan. Thus, this gave American government reason not to withdraw their troops from this empire since the war seemed to take a different course than expected earlier. Some faction of the Afghans was also against the Taliban government. The Al-Qaida mastermind terrorist, Osama Bin Laden hence fought alongside their allies; this not only worked to the advantage of the American troops but also enabled the entire international community learn more secrets concerning this empire. The conquests thus become easier (Johnson, 2007). The war however went on and now the Pakistan, and Iraq become victims of the circumstances surrounding them. America now seemed to have some special interested in the goldmines in Pakistan; a wealth that they could tap and finance this expensive battle. On realizing this unfortunate turn of events Pakistan, the main sponsor of the Taliban when it was struggling to gain control of Afghanistan, was quickly persuaded to switch allegiance and support the United States diplomatically and logistically in its moves toward war (Bethell, 2010). On 20th September while addressing the congress the U.S president tried to persuade the Taliban government to disclose any information it had concerning the whereabouts of the Al-Qaida terrorists. Above it required the Afghanistan government to surrender the mastermind terrorist Osama Bin Laden who was believed to have funded the attacks on America (Bethell, 2010). The Taliban government however denied having any information concerning the presence of Al-Qaida terrorists in Afghanistan; it also requested evidence showing that Osama bin Laden had been involved in the attacks. Despite the Afghanistan request to be given evidence that Osama Bin Laden had been directly involved in the September 11 attacks their request was summarily dismissed, and the war was launched. The war was first undertaken using the American Air force. The first Phase, therefore, involved aerial attack that was then followed by ground operations. The American then got relief after its got assistance from its NATO ally’s alliance. In a short span, the war brought to a halt the Taliban government when they were overpowered out of power, and most of the Al-Qaida members killed or escaped to the mountainous part of the country (Galtung, 2002). At the onset of the war, it appeared it was an American war. However, this was not true since this war seemed to have been joined by so many other nations that showed their aggression towards Afghanistan for two reasons; harboring terrorists and the Taliban oppressive government (Byman, 2006). Therefore, the appraisal of the war posed a greater challenge from the normative perspective of law and morality. The American government issued a serious warning not only towards the Taliban government but also to all other governments in the whole world that hosted these heartless criminals that they will always be regarded enemies to America (Byman, 2006). There were many criticisms when the war kicked off because the American government refused to hold negotiation or dialogue with the Taliban government to bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorism. The war, therefore, left many people dead and resulted to the destruction of countless property. The critics also questioned why is it that America had only resolved to solve the problem with another problem instead of resolving to diplomatic means of solving conflicts (Cohn, n.d.). America however had good reasons why it was never going to negotiate over this issue or try any other means other than war to retaliate the earlier deadly attacks. The main reason of the war was that the Taliban government seemed to support the Al-Qaida. Therefore, it was ironical to discuss Al-Qaida with an enemy. Therefore despite many warnings towards not going to war American government went war first and foremost to ensure that these terrorists were not going to commit any further attacks on American soil and to overthrow the Taliban government that seemed to have been the root cause of all these evils that had befallen America (Bethell, 2010). The American victory will be viewed like victory for the Afghan people who have for so long period yearned to be delivered from the brutality of Taliban government and worse the oppression by the extremist group of the al Qaeda (Johnson, 2007). There were many accusations that the American government through its troops were acting in inhuman ways by attacking civilian more than the enemy combat (Osman, n.d.). I think it can be tentatively concluded that the US Government did do its best to minimize Afghan civilian casualties, but in a manner that was hampered by the greater attentiveness to tactics that would reduce American military casualties to near zero. There was some confusion due to the attacks that seemed to target all those parties that seemed to oppose the Taliban government and the Al-Qaida group. Michael Walzer, speaking at the Forum on Just War at Princeton University, where he argued for the use of useful ideas and behavior of the state with respect to the war (Elshtain, 2008). He stated that a nation that respected human dignity could always consider alternative means of solving conflicts for the sake of civilian casualties. The United States record is mixed. It could have done more but given the political urgency associated with effective action there was a need for an immediate action. Moreover, since there had been this heartless attack that had caused a lot of suffering on American civilians the attack was a justifiable act that aimed to bring justice to the victim of September 11, 2001 (Elshtain, 2008). Conclusion: More than just Afghanistan. For most commentators on the response to the events that took place on September 11, 2001 the blame was laid more on the Afghanistan due to their response towards dealing with the terrorism and addressing this particular challenge. In that effect, the American argued that the scope of retort should be stringently limited to the Al-Qaida network. Thus, this includes all the closely allied groups with similar goals and tactics. I and that the presence of terrorist cells and financial flows could be effectively dealt with through reliance on enhanced international law enforcement efforts, increased cooperation between national intelligence agencies, financial interdiction, and occasional reliance on covert operations. There was no need of any further war. References Bethell, T., 2010. Why are we in Afhanistan? At first it was retaliation for 9/11 -- but eight and a half years later?. [Online] Available at: http://spectator.org/articles/40005/why-are-we-afghanistan [Accessed 14 September 2014]. Byman, D., 2006. Remaking Alliances for the War on Terrorism. The Journal of Strategic Studies, 29(5), pp. 767-811. Cohn, M., n.d. Bombing of Afghanistan is Illigal and Must be Stopped. [Online] Available at: http://www.iadllaw.org/files/BOMBING%20OF%20AFGHANISTAN%20IS%20ILLEGAL%20AND%20MUST%20BE%20STOPPED%20by%20Marjorie%20Cohn.pdf [Accessed 14 September 2014]. Elshtain, J., 2008. Just War Against Terror: The Burden of American Power In A Violent World. New York: Basic Books. Galtung, J., 2002. USA, the West and the Rest after September 11/Octomber 7, 2001+: A Midterm Report. New Political Science, 24(3), pp. 349-369. Johnson, T. H., 2007. The Taliban Insurgency and an Analysis of Shabnamah (Night Letters). Small Wars and Insurgencies, 18(3), pp. 317-344. Moore, J., 2014. The evolution of islamic terrorism: an overview. [Online] Available at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/target/etc/modern.html [Accessed 16 September 2014]. Osman, F., n.d. Human Rights in Islam. [Online] Available at: http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/private/cmje/issues/more_issues/more_issues/jerusalem_and_pluralism_issues/Human_Rights_in_Islam.pdf [Accessed 14 September 2014]. Owen, M. & Maurer, K., 2012. No Easy Day: The firsthand account that killed Osama Bin Laden. New York: Penguin Group. Roy-Bhattacharya, J., 2012. The Watch: A Novel. New York : Crown Publishing Group. Ryan, M., 2014. U.S military chief to Taliban: Seize the moment to negotiate. [Online] Available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/22/us-usa-afghanistan-military-idUSBREA4L16L20140522 [Accessed 14 September 2014]. U.S. Department of State, 2013. The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and the U.S. Response, 1978–1980. [Online] Available at: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1977-1980/soviet-invasion-afghanistan [Accessed 14 September 2014]. Wright, L., 2007. The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. New York: Vintage Books. Read More