Exam

1. Based upon Remarks by the President in his Address to the Nation on the Way Forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan, what vital national interest does he see at stake in Afghanistan and how does our involvement support that interest?

President Obama see’s the “security of the United States and the safety of the American people at stake in Afghanistan” (Obama 5). “It is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan” (Obama, 4). Despite having scattered and eliminated many al Qaeda insurgents, as well as, driving the Taliban from power, al Qaeda has retained their pockets of safe havens along the Afghanistan border. Additional troops in Afghanistan will allow us to meet the President’s goal to “disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda in Afghanistan...and to prevent its capacity to threaten America and our allies in the future” (Obama 5).

The rapid deployment of troops is needed that we can “target insurgency and secure key population centers...increase our ability to train competent Afghan security forces, and to partner with them so that more Afghans can get into the fight...and help create the conditions for the United States to transfer responsibility to the Afghans” (Obama 5). Because what is at stake is “the security of our allies, and the common security of the world” (Obama 5).

2. Why and how does the 2008 National Defense Strategy counterbalance the armed forces’ past tendency to focus on conventional threats and conflicts? Why: Due to US dominance in conventional warfare methods, our adversaries have been forced to adopt other means and methods in an attempt to defeat us (United States, DOD, 4). In addition, we can no longer afford to focus on just one adversary at a time (e.g., Soviet Union and the Cold War); we must be prepared to deter a range of potential adversaries, each with their own unique