My Letter to Mr. Ignatius

Dear Mr. Ignatius,


I am taking an AP Language and Composition in high school this year. This quarter, our assignment was to blog about an Op-Ed Writer, and I chose you. 


For our most recent blog, we looked at shaping arguments. After we found the claim, concession, and supports, we gave our own opinion on the issue presented. The article I chose was 

"Progress in Afghanistan, with caveats." 

Do you know of any other articles that are related to this topic? The subject of troops in Afghanistan and when to pull them out is a common political debate topic. I'm curious as to the facts and figures that support the different opposing viewpoints. Finally, I wondered if you had any specific articles you had written that you would recommend that I read.

Thank you for your time,

Alyssa Loebig


Mr. Ignatius has not responded

"Progress in Afghanistan, with caveats" by David Ignatius

David Ignatius's Original Article

Claim: "President Obama says that the measure of success in Afghanistan is that he can stick to his schedule and begin withdrawing U.S. troops and transferring responsibility to the Afghans next July. That part still sounds like wishful thinking, given the mixed picture. There's progress, but as the president rightly said, it's still very frail."


Concession: "Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cautioned that success 'isn't going to happen overnight.' But the fact that he can even visit a base that a few months ago was under regular mortar fire tells you that something has changed...Violence is down."


Ignatius mentions several topics to support his claim. 

• The people of Afghanistan are unsure of the new power struggle. They don't trust the American troops or the Afghan government. 
• People are afraid once the American soldiers leave, the Taliban will just return.
• "The Afghan government presence has been corrupt or nonexistent."
• "As a State Department official here puts it, Zhari has "broken politics" - a description that sadly fits most of the country under the presidency of Hamid Karzai."
• "The local power brokers, such as Kandahar kingpin Ahmed Wali Karzai, the president's half-brother, were corrupt and incompetent."
• "And the Afghan army, which is supposed to take over from U.S. forces, is still shaky, operating at only about half its authorized strength...'Our [local] governor needs a complete staff,' says Lt. Col. James Fullwood, who commands the Marines in the area surrounding Marja."

I agree that the situation is still very fragile because there are still many issues within Afghanistan that have yet to be resolved, and we should not pull out troops until the time is right. If we remove the troops too soon, then all the good that has been done would just be destroyed since the country would not be able to fully support itself.

"Afghans want their country back - and Americans should listen" by David Ignatius

This article is about the war in Afghanistan and centers on how most Afghans feel about the foreign U.S. troops being there. Ignatius explains that something needs to be done so that the Afghans feel more secure about the troops. If nothing is done to make them believe that the U.S. is there to help, progress can't be made with the people. Ignatius uses research by Canadian researcher Norine Macdonald. 

• 50 percent of the population feels that recent military operations are bad for the Afghan people
• 65 percent feel that the foreign forces kill more civilians than the Taliban did
• 55 percent oppose military operations against the Taliban
• 58 percent think it's wrong to work with foreign forces
• only 31 percent believe NATO forces are protecting the people

Ignatius uses logos to prove his point. By filling his article with facts, he makes it almost impossible to deny that the Afghan people are against the foreign forces in their country.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/19/AR2010111904376.html

About David Ignatius

David Ignatius is an associate editor and columnist for The Washington Post. He has written seven novels, including Penetration, which was made into a movie called Body of Lies. It starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Russel Crowe. His column won the 2000 Gerald Loeb Award for Commentary and the 2004 Edward Weintal Prize.