Eight years into the war in Afghanistan and less than a year into office, President Obama is meeting with top advisers to develop a new Afghanistan strategy, responding to rising violence and an unresolved election.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday announced his intention to send in more UK troop, but it is unclear if US forces will follow suit.
In Afghanistan last month, election officials declared President Hamid Karzai the winner of 54.6 percent of the vote in the August presidential contest, enough for reelection. But more than 3,000 polling stations reported questionable results, and ten percent of those are now being audited, leaving the results unclear.
This video includes a 2 minute background report and then and interview with former presidential candidate, Ashraf Ghani, about his country's future.
Quotes
"The combination of force levels, equipment levels, and tasks that I'm setting out today follows the clear military advice from our chiefs of staff and from our commanders on the ground" Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister
"We are going through a very deliberate process that is completely consistent with what I said back in March. After the election, I said it was important for us to reassess the situation on the ground. And that's what we're doing, not just on the military side, but also on the civilian side." U.S. President Barack Obama
"Afghans have lost trust in the credibility of the process. They would rather have a bad government than no government at all, because the risk of uncertainty takes a huge toll." Ashraf Ghani, Former Afghan Presidential Candidate
Warm Up Questions
1. What is corruption? Why are some governments more corrupt than others?
2. Why would some citizens accept elections results if there was evidence of fraud?
Discussion Questions
1. Name some of the reasons that Afghanistan had so much vote tampering. Do you think that could be possible in the United States?
2. Ashraf Ghani says that good governance is important to Afghanistan now, what do you think corruption does to a government?
3. If you were Obama would you send more troops into Afghanistan? Why or why not?
4. Obama must listen to his commanders but he must also listen to the public, whose opinion is most important? Why?
Additional Resources
