Case Study The Battle For Afghanistan: A Fight Worth Winning?   Instructions: Enter your answers into the boxes below. If you'd like a print-out of your responses, click on the Submit button at the bottom of the page, and you will be taken to a printer-friendly page. If you have been instructed to submit your exercise online, enter both your and your instructor's name and e-mail address, then click the Email button at the bottom of the page. Your answers will be e-mailed immediately.   Who Cares What Happens in Afghanistan? :: The Extent of the Commitment :: A Lost Cause?   A Lost Cause? A final question must be raised. Is Afghanistan worth the effort? Some contend that representative democracy will never grow in the rocky wasteland of Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan have no history of governing themselves. The Afghanis have always been the ruled rather than the rulers. It is in their nature. They don’t know how to govern themselves. This has been revealed since the Taliban was toppled. The effort to construct a Constitution was a strained process that frequently degenerated into squabbling and stalemate. The attempt to hold elections has been nothing more than the opportunity for the expression of hatred and violence. The old saying goes that one can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear. Just as true would be the observation that one can’t make a representative democracy out of a backward nation with no history of self-government. The idea of wasting millions of dollars, not to mention precious American lives, to embark upon the fool’s errand of bringing representative democracy to Afghanistan is irresponsible and dangerous. An argument can be made that Afghanistan is most certainly worthy of the effort of the United States and the western world. The idea that only certain people are capable of governing themselves is biased and delusional at best. Who are we to say that an entire population is intended to be nothing more than slaves? In addition, an examination of our own Constitutional Convention in 1787 shows that we were imminently capable of squabbling and stalemate. Just as a constitution was ultimately created and adopted by the American people, so was a constitution established and endorsed by the Afghanis. Finally, violence has frequently accompanied the electoral process in the United States. That fact has never called into question whether we should continue to have the right to select our leaders. The circus created by the 2000 presidential election demonstrates quite clearly that we have yet to perfect the electoral process. This perspective emphasizes that Afghanistan is taking its first steps toward becoming a representative democracy. Maybe all it needs is the help of more established representative democracy that was once a fledgling democracy itself, like the United States of America. Can anything remotely resembling representative democracy be created in Afghanistan? Do you agree that any attempt to bring about representative democracy in Afghanistan is simply a waste of valuable resources and precious lives? Are there any developing countries in the world that are worth the effort of helping them to become representative democracies? How are they different from Afghanistan? What will be the litmus test for the involvement of the United States?     Student Name:* Student Email:*   Professor Name:*   Professor Email:*         *required