The War on Terror: With an end to the twenty year war in Afghanistan, the question of the legitimacy of the war was not whether the Afghans should adopt democratic ideals but whether it was the role of the United States to spread those democratic values using the approaches that it did. Those democratic values that the United States was trying to spread include the accountability of the elected Afghan people in power, the consistent and universal application of human rights in Afghanistan, eradication of religious and military led leadership to allow for duly elected officials, and, the prevention of corrupt private interests and influence in political affairs. Interestingly, even US’ own political statesmen such as Henry Kissinger argued that the first two decades of the twenty-first century, the American republic was fighting, and often losing, a domestic battle to uphold those very values for its own citizens. Another criticism often put forward is that America’s foreign policy runs counter to those values they were trying to influence in Afghanistan. Can a country share, and often force, democratic ideals when the process of influencing it included bombing and warfare, undermining rule of law in countries like Afghanistan and often using strategies such as embargo which threaten human life and dignity? Instruction: Referencing the above narrative, students will realize that there are many angles to taken in critically analyzing, not only America’s presence in Afghanistan, but its general foreign policy towards other nations’ sovereignty and the US’ war on terror. Accordingly, select any newspaper article or news clip (television or radio) analyzing US foreign policy in Afghanistan and similar countries.

Kindly submit a reflection of the article/news clip with the following considerations in mind:
 An introduction of the current and controversial topic
 Central and Critical Effort: An analysis of the political issue(s) raised in the article/news clip. For example, based on your chosen article or news clip, the angle of article could be a criticism of US foreign policy generally; or an angle of whether countries such as Afghanistan should have right to sovereignty over their own structure; role of US media in promulgating the need for the war on terror and advancing US’ foreign policy; role of the United Nations versus United States in enforcing rule of law and democracy, etc.

 Students must explore any concurring or opposing views they have and/or how the political issue may affect the Caribbean populace/system. For example, is there any implication of US foreign policy of Caribbean states? Use the information/theories learned in class to analyze this issue.

 An analysis of the positions, motivations and/or objectives of the authors/speakers in the articles or news clip. For example, what are the viewpoints of others? Is the author/speaker unbiased?

 A discussion of how the issues outlined in the article/news clip affected you as the reader/listener? Did the views impact your political perception of the US foreign policy and political process? Did the author’s/speaker’s view change or reinforce your own political views on issues of globalization?

IMPORTANT TO NOTE THE FOLLOWING:
 Essays should be accompanied by a Reference/Bibliography. No less than 3 sources should be used. Wikipedia and online dictionaries are not sources. Please refer to notes on plagiarism.
 APA format to be used.
 References should be made to at least 2 Caribbean states.
 This is not a project. There is no need for Introduction and acknowledgement. An essay format is to be followed.