Afghanistan

War & Iraq War

In this essay, I will be comparing and contrasting the Afghanistan War in 2001 and the
Iraq War in 2003. The Afghanistan War had 3 periods: the invasion period, which was the brief
war, then the occupation of Afghanistan during 2002 - 2008, and the third was in 2008 when
President Obama increased military presence in Afghanistan. The Iraq War had two periods,
first being the invasion war in March April 2003, the second was the occupation in Iraq. This
essay will be mainly focusing on the invasion periods of both conflicts. Conflicts occur when
two individuals/parties disagree on a topic, and neither is willing to give in to the oppositions
opinion. There are many different stages in a conflict and each party can give different
responses. These two wars are a result of how the parties have chosen to deal with the
conflict. The five dimensions of conflict are tools to help analyze a conflict. The five
dimensions are: the parties involved, sources of conflict, relationships between conflicting
parties, history of conflict and the process, which is how the parties chose to deal with the
conflict. I will be using these five dimensions as a framework to help compare and contrast
the two conflicts.

The parties involved and other conflicts involved in the two wars are similar. There are
only two main parties in both conflicts, with United States taking part in both of the conflicts,
being the one that starts both wars through their invasion of the two different countries. In
the Afghanistan War though, the other party was the Taliban government in Afghanistan,
whereas in the Iraq War the US was fighting against the Iraq government. British forces were
also allies to the US in both conflicts, but wasnt the main parties. However, the Afghanistan
War was considered a war against terrorism while the Iraq War was a war against a man. The
911 conflict is also slightly linked to both conflicts, as it sparked international attention to
these two countries, but is not the main factor affecting the decision to invade.

Both the Afghanistan War and Iraq War began over a party not having their needs met.
President Bush, the then president of US, had stated that US would not differentiate terrorist
and nations who harbor or arm them. In the Afghanistan War, the US demanded Taliban
government hand over all leaders of Al-Qaeda in their land, as Afghanistan had provided Al-
Qaedas training ground, and when the Taliban leader refused, US and British forces began
their invasion. In the Iraq War, the situation was similar: the US demanded Saddam Hussein
leave Iraq, as US feared Saddams development of mass destruction weapons would be
shared with other terrorist groups who could attack US, and when he refused, US and British
forces launched an air attack. However, for the Iraq War, there were also a suspected
personal motive for the attack. President Bush was the son of President Bush senior, who
invaded Iraq in the first Persian Gulf War, and it is believed that President Bush wanted to
finish off what his father started.

The relationships between the two parties are quite hostile for both wars. In
Afghanistan, US began bombing a just after Taliban refused to hand over Laden. During the
invasion period for both wars, the casualties were quite high. The parties for both wars came
in unequal power. In the Afghanistan War, the US had many allies such as the British forces
and anti-Taliban Pashtuns in southern Afghanistan, and while Taliban had the advantage of
home base, the US had not had much resistance forces during the invasion period. The US
had more control over manpower and resources and controlled everything during the attack.
In the Iraq War, US also controlled everything during the attack, many of the Iraqi troops
chose not to fight against the coalition forces advance. The situation is similar to the one in
Afghanistan. For both conflicts, the parties are dependent on each other. They need to
negotiate with each other and compromise in order to restore the political relationships
between both parties in both conflicts and end the conflict.

The history of both conflicts are similar in the invasion periods, but developed
differently later on. The Afghanistan Wars invasion period began with air campaign on
October 7th 2001, and as Talibans last stronghold fell on December 6th 2001, the Taliban rule
was over and so had the invasion period, and the occupation began. As Taliban and Al-Qaeda
had fled from Afghanistan, the US had turned their attention to Iraq and reconstruction
efforts in Afghanistan was not funded enough. The Iraq War began also with bombing on 20th
March 2003 and ended on 1st May 2003, lasting only for 42 days with 21 for major combat
operations, and the invasion period began. However, during the occupation periods, the two
wars developed differently. First, for the Iraq War, both Iraq and US was still actively involved
in the conflict during occupation period, US government was still trying to restore law and
order. In the Afghanistan War US troops continued to remain in Afghanistan, along with
British troops and other nations, and Taliban attacks continued to intensify as they continued
with their resurgence, but US had given control to NATOs International Security Assistance
Force (ISAF), and they werent actively involved anymore, they had turned their attention to
the Iraq War. Second, for the Afghanistan War, public attention had been turned away for
quite a long time, and it is not regarded as very serious nowadays, although it was very serious
in 2001 2006 as there were many attacks and deaths as a result of the war in Afghanistan.
However, for the Iraq War, even after the invasion period people are still talking about it,
some supported US decision to remove Saddam from power, however some see this as an
act against Arab and Islamic imperialism. After Obama came into power, he moved around
the military arrangements in Iraq, such as withdrawing troops in 2011 which also had people
talking and they found it quite serious as they believe it later allowed ISIS rise. At 2016, Iraq
War had caused more civilian casualties at an estimated 165,000 caused by direct violence
whereas Afghanistan War had 31,000 deaths.

In both the Afghanistan War and Iraq War, both sides have chosen to engage in the
conflict with direct force. United States had invaded both Afghanistan and Iraq in the
respective conflicts in direct competition, and in the following occupation periods many
attacks have taken place against the occupation troops resulting in many deaths.

In conclusion, the Afghanistan War and Iraq War is very similar. Both wars are started
over similar reasons, both resulting in war, both involving US, and both have left many military
forces to occupy the country and restore law and order after invasion. They are very much
related to each other, US had turned their attention onto the Iraq War after the Afghanistan
War successfully chased Taliban and Al Qaeda presence out of Afghanistan. Many believe Iraq
War was more serious as it had caused more deaths and allowed ISIS to take control.