Friday, September 14, 2012

Blog 3:Global Terrorist Designation Part II (9/14/12)



Chris Emekauwa
Blog 3: (9/14/12)
Global Terrorist Designation Part II

The United States finally reached a conclusion on how to approach their conflict against the Taliban affiliated Haqqani network. The United States and President Obama’s administration has decided to label the Haqqani network a foreign terrorist organization, “placing it alongside Hamas and Al-Qaida”. According to an article written by Alex Strick Van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn at the New York Times, they believe that this was ultimately a pointless decision for America. In the article they describe America as a group that still is very naïve to the fundamentals in Afghanistan, even though they have been there for over a decade. They claim that to designate the Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization “is a firm decision that ultimately limits America’s future political options. Moreover labeling the Haqqani’ terrorist dislodges them from the wider Taliban insurgency, making a comprehensive settlement harder to achieve. The decisions that we make today will shape and constrain our future policies”. The writers also strongly agree that by constraining our future polices, this will deter the Haqqani from coming to the negotiation table as it did with the Taliban a decade ago. “Between 2002 and 2004, for example, some senior Taliban leaders sought reconciliation and cooperation with the Afghan government and the international community. The negative responses they received left little room but to pursue the path of resistance.” In the middle of the article the writers back their claims by stating that the Haqqani leaders have been seen as pragmatist and are worldly renowned for their political calculations, even though their deadly terrorist attacks on Americans. Even quotes have been provided by the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency and the former commander of Britain’s special air service. As the article goes on the writers go on about the poor decisions America has made and the Bad outcomes it has caused.
I totally disagree with this article. I believe that the Obama Administration has made the right decision in designating the Haqqani group as terrorist. Any group that hurts innocent people to prove a point should be viewed as a threat, and it’s apart of America’s principles to never ignore wrong doings like this.

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