Joe Johnson May 2012 E- Ballinger Zrich International School J8 Summit 2012

Why are NATO troops fighting a war in Afghanistan? They were in Afghanistan to bring justice to those who killed over 3000 people during 9/11. In 2001 after 9/11, President Bush asked the Taliban to hand over the person that was responsible for this devastating attack, Osama Bin Laden, or face war with the US; they refused. Months later the US invaded Afghanistan and the war started. However, NATO troops should be withdrawn from Afghanistan because they have found and killed Osama Bin Laden, overthrown the Taliban from power and Al Qaeda members arent much of a threat to the US and/or Europe anymore. Osama Bin Laden was killed last year on 2nd May 2011; the USs main goal was to find him, and now that they have killed him, they have achieved that goal. After 9/11, Osama Bin Laden admitted responsibility for the attack. Once he did this, the US straight away wanted to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice. This is a direct quote from President Bush in 2001 after 9/11 telling the Taliban to hand over Osama Bin Laden or face war with the US, Deliver to the United States authorities the leader of Al- Qaeda who hides in your land. Close immediately and permanently every terrorist camp in Afghanistan, and hand over every terrorist, and every person in their support structure, to appropriate authorities The Taliban must act, and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate. (Terrorism). On 2nd May 2011, Barack Obama ordered a group of Navy SEALs to break into Osamas hiding place (a huge house surrounded by high walls and barbed wire) in Pakistan and arrest him. Once they got in, there was a gunfight between the Navy SEALs and the people who were with Osama Bin Laden. Once they got to Osama, it was pretty much impossible to arrest him, so they shot him dead instead; no Navy SEALs were killed (Bin Laden, Osama). With Osama Bin Laden dead, they US and other nations can withdraw their troops being happy that they have achieved their main goal. In 2001 as the war on terror started, the US dismantled the Taliban from power in Afghanistan, and since then the Taliban has been fighting back furiously. But the US is not going to win anytime soon because the Taliban are very sneaky, ruthless and skilled. Firstly, the Taliban are very sneaky, because they dont dress like

a proper army, so that makes them look like the locals except with guns (Skrbina). For example, the Taliban purposely dress similar to locals and stay in a crowd while they are moving around, so it is harder for the US forces to see them, but even if they do see them it will be hard to open fire at them until the locals get out of the way, by which time the Taliban would have also escaped. Secondly, they are very skilled because they know the land around them inside- out, so they know all of the short cuts/ secret passages and good spots where they can see everywhere around them. Also, if they get into a sticky situation where they could possibly die, they will have to get out of that situation as quickly as possible. One of the ways that they can retreat is using a secret passage that only they know about to get to a safe place and get to cover in case anyone follows them. Finally, they are very ruthless because they will get information from the locals one way or another about the enemy and their movements. If the Taliban know that the enemy has been in a certain place but now they have moved out, they will go to the locals and force the locals to tell them in which direction they went. However, if the locals dont give the information that they want, then they will torture them, if they still dont get the information they want then they will start to kill some of their family members (Terrorism). The Taliban has been defeated once, the US does not need to defeat them twice or risk being defeated by them. Ever since the 9/11 attacks, security has become much more secure, and Al Qaeda has not been able to carry out a terrorist attack directed towards the US, so there is not much point in trying to find the unknown amount of Al Qaeda members left in Afghanistan. There has been no major terrorist attack in the US since 9/11 that poor security can be blamed for (Skrbina). Obviously, there have been terrorist attacks since 9/11, most notably the London bombings in 2005 and the Madrid bombings in 2004, but those attacks were in train stations and on a bus that security could have done nothing about. Security has become stricter with what people can bring on planes, and Al Qaeda knows that, so they have not tried to attack America at the risk of being caught and jailed or killed so they have most likely fled to Pakistan like Osama Bin Laden did, or another country neighbouring Afghanistan to stay out of harms way. At this moment a NATO troop has probably died to an IED in the ground searching for Al Qaeda members and the Taliban. Lives are being lost in Afghanistan due to the US wanting to keep the search up for Al Qaeda members that might not be

in Afghanistan (Simon, D, Jeffrey). If the US and other nations that are fighting in Afghanistan withdraw their troops, then a lot of lives would be saved on and off the battlefield. There has not been a huge terrorist attack by Al Qaeda in the US due to security being very tight throughout the world. NATO troops were fighting in Afghanistan to kill Osama Bin Laden, disassemble the Taliban. Furthermore, security has gone up, so Al Qaeda has not been able to terrorize the US in any way. But with Osama Bin Laden killed last year, the Taliban removed from power in 2001 and not at risk from a terrorist attack by Al Qaeda it would not do any harm to anyone if the US and other nations to remove their troops from Afghanistan. Moreover, 3019 lives have been lost in Afghanistan since the war started; the US could save many more if they let Afghanistan be (Coalition Military Fatalities).

There are also many good reasons for NATO troops to be fighting in Afghanistan.

Work- Cited page "Bin Laden, Osama." The Islamic World: Past and Present. 2004. eLibrary. Web. 14 May. 2012. Coalition Military Fatalities . 2009 iCasualties.org. 29th May 2012 <http://icasualties.org/oef/>. Simon, D, Jeffrey.. "The global terrorist threat." Phi Kappa Phi Forum. 01 Apr. 2002: 10. eLibrary. Web. 14 May. 2012. Skrbina, David. "Why are we in Afghanistan?." Arab American News. 22 Aug. 2009: 6. eLibrary. Web. 04 May. 2012. "terrorism." Compton's by Britannica, v 6.0. 2009. eLibrary. Web. 14 May. 2012."war on terror."