- United State Interest in Afghanistan
The Afghanistan war was conducted by the American soldiers in a bid to stamp out the terrorist group of al Qaeda. The group enjoyed support by the extremist leadership of the Taliban within Afghanistan. The first few years of the war provided success with the military group scattering and some of the members moving to the mountainous regions.
The presidential address showed that the group was regrouping which would be a problem to the homeland security (Military, P.3). The regrouping members of the terrorist group have been blamed for causing insecurity in Pakistan region. The group has started causing insecurity within Afghanistan sometime attacking soldiers. The American believed the planning of the 9/11 bomb attack was held within Afghanistan. The American government with such knowledge had a responsibility of dispersing the insurgents. The American government increase in the number of soldiers within Afghanistan is to end the regrouping of the terrorist. The regrouping of the militia would have allowed it to organize funding for its activities. The military group lack of finance will make it hard for it to conduct further attacks in the United State soil and other allied countries.
The American government foresees if the group is left to regroup, they will carry organized attacks within Pakistan. The group when organized can provide funding to the members to proceed with bombing into the United State. The president noted that it was costly for the American government to increase military personnel’s in the region. The short-term cost of the war would save the country long-term conflicts with the insurgents. The homeland security had found extremist within the American soil believed to be sponsored by groups within Afghanistan (Quadrennial, P. 1).
The Afghanistan government was losing ground in major areas to the military group. The loss would affect the government in trying to administer the region. The United States government had to increase funding and military supply to boast security in the region. The members of the military were to train security personnel’s who were to help with restoring peace when the American soldiers eventually withdrew from the region. The withdrawal process was not supposed to be quick in order to ensure the country did not get back to the hands of the insurgents.
The country was facing widespread corruption among its governor and other politicians (Military, P.5). The corruption had led to widespread smuggling of drugs over the Afghanistan boarders. The money from the drug sale is used to fund terrorist activities in places like Pakistan. The United State government nonsupport of corrupt leaders would eliminate the problem of drug trafficking.
- 2008 Strategy on defense from conventional threats and conflicts
The American soldiers have been dealing with wars all over the world. Armies have been deployed in states that have been led by militia groups. The soldiers have been used to destroy unruly countries trying to develop nuclear powered weapons. The 2008 United State defense strategy laid down the different ways the government would deal with threats and attacks.
One of the proposed strategy stated how the United States defense team would deal with long-term wars. The long time war involved fight with military extremist such as al Shabaab and al Qaeda. The extremist groups were spread all over the world, which led to need of developing a global strategy. The struggle was supposed to focus widely in regions such as Afghanistan and Iraq. The American government to remove the dictatorial government of Saddam Hussein that was developing nuclear enriched weapons attacked Iraq. The long-term wars were to be won by involvement of local people. The locals would be used in maintaining peace and identification of terrorists (Defense, P. 9).
The next strategy focused on promotion of security all over the world through building strong institutions. The strong institutions were supposed to deal effectively with any insecurity matters that arose. The United State government would help countries with military knowledge and equipment to reduce the spread of ungoverned regions. The United States would also corporate with world powerful nations in maintaining world peace. Countries such as China were to be invited in formulating policies that would promote security. Countries such as Russia would be invited to discuss world security matters (Defense, P. 10).
The strategy stated that the United State would deter conflict with other nations. Deterring conflict would be arrived by the country promoting dialogues on any disagreements with the rest of world powers. The challenge of deterring conflict arose from the change of weapons and methods used in the modern world wars. Deterring of attacks was supposed to assure American citizens and their allies of protection. The deterrent was carried through destruction of threats before usage. The American government at the same time had to build its ability to handle any form of attacks from enemies.
The United State was to consolidate its powers to enable it deal with threats from countries developing nuclear powered weapons. The government was to eradicate any form of conflict of interests in its own leadership (Defense, P. 13). Shaping state through economic and military empowerment would be a major solution to deteriorating world security. The United States government would ensure that the enemies would not acquire any form of mass destruction weapons. The prevention was to ensure that the world would not suffer mass loss of life because of weapons falling on the wrong hands.
- Report on U.S. Strategy towards Somalia
The United State was keen in establishing long lasting peace with Somalia at the horn of Africa. Clan leaders and militia who were linked with terrorism activities in the world arena had ruled Somalia. The United States strategy was to establish dialogue among the warring clans within Somalia. The dialogue would allow the different groups to agree on measures of establishing transition government. The dialogue was supposed to encourage the government to reach out to extremist Muslims who had for a long time controlled the courts. The dialogue platform would be greatly helped by commitment from all the groups involved in the war. The clan leaders’ acceptance of dialogue would reduce mistrust between members of different Somalia clans. The political dialogue was supposed to help Somalia to hold a peaceful election in the year 2009. The political solution was to be supported with humanitarian aid to refugees.
The United State was to stabilize the southern Somalia, which was mostly controlled by the militias. The Stabilization was to be achieved through use of African troops. The costs of troop deployment were to be paid by the United Nation with the help of the United State. The United States committed to offer $2 million for soldiers transportation and an addition $8 million for purchases of military equipment (Congress, P. 8). The troops were supposed to develop the ability of the Somali government through training. The transitional government was encouraged to develop a policing unit within the region. The police unit was supposed to offer equal opportunities to all the clans. The equal distribution among the clans was supposed to end suspicions among clan leaders.
The United States government was to rebuild key institutions in Somalia. The institutions to be rebuilt were such as hospitals, judiciary, and educational centers (Congress, P. 9). The enhancement of the army would help the Somali government to maintain control on regions liberated from the militia groups. The judiciary would help in dealing with cases that would arise from wars and other social matters. The rebuilding of the institution would be carried through donations by the United State government together with nongovernmental organizations.
The United State government developed counter terrorism measures to deal with AL Qaeda members based in Somalia (Congress, P. 10). The measures were to be achieved by empowering neighboring nations such as Kenya. The empowerment was supposed to prevent the insurgents from attacking US interest within Africa. The counterterrorism measures would control spread of terrorist activities beyond the Somalia boarders.
- Risks towards Somalia strategy
The United State strategy of promoting dialogues faced a risk of resistance from the Somali government and other clan leaders. The resistance would make the results of the dialogues not to signify the wishes of all members of the Somalia clans. The dialogue measures would be hampered by non-implementation of the agreed terms by clan leaders. Clan leaders might sign agreements unpopular to their communities leading to them losing control. The loss of control by the clan leaders would require a new dialogue platform being set which would require more funds. The dialogue faced the risk of withdrawal by some clans in the middle of the sessions. The withdrawal would mean decisions arrived were not conclusive and inclusive of interest of all members. The non-participation of any clan meant no amicable solution would be arrived after the United State government spending money on the strategy.
The strategy of using military personnel from outside Somalia would bring the challenge of understanding the terrain. The lack of proper demographic knowledge among foreign soldiers would probably lead to massive loss through death by soldiers. The soldiers would face the problem of resistance from communities living within Somalia. The resistance from the communities would have arisen from the ideologies spread by militias about the occupational interest of foreign nations in Somalia. The strategy of training locals as police and soldiers would have the problem of identifying extremist members of the society. The risk was the extremist would leave the army after receiving training to rejoin the terrorist groups operating within Somalia. The trained soldiers rejoining the militias would add to the problem of eliminating the terrorist groups. The other major risk was the method of identifying genuine people who would join the transitional government military.
The Somalia government was to receive monitory aid to rebuild its institutions. There was a risk of misuse of the money by the Somalia government personnel. The money would have ended in hands of corrupt leaders, which meant it would not have achieved the objectives set in the United States Strategy. The implementation of the strategy depended on commitment from leaders within Somalia.
References
Congress. (2007). Comprehensive Regional Strategy on Somalia: A Strategy for U. S. Engagement.
Defense. (2008).National Defense Strategy. Department of Defense United States of America.
Military Academy. ( 2009 ). Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation on the Way Forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan. West Point : United States Military Academy .
Quadrennial. (2010). Quadrennial Defense Review Report.
