Political Science

The Afghanistan war is a major challenge for the United States, since failure to win this particular war will mean that the terrorist organizations will continue enjoying safe havens in the country and thus continue threatening the peace of the world. There are also the humanitarian issues in the country that needs to be addressed, there are massive violations of human rights and not unless the United States together with its allies such as Britain wins this war, then the crisis will continue to exist. The United States being the only left super power following the collapse of the Soviet Union has a duty to ensure that all people around the world live in a manner they are able to enjoy their human rights to the maximum. Following the humiliating defeat of the US by the Vietnam nationalist forces in the 2nd Indochina war in the longest battle in the History of the US, which lasted for close to two decades, the US has to make sure that such is not repeated. It has to use its military intelligence and force as well as all available war tactics to ensure that it wins this war (Parsons, 2009).

Winning strategy in Afghanistan
The current administration of President Barrack Obama inherited several ongoing conflicts which were started off by his predecessor, President Bush. Just like in the case of Vietnam War, the US got involved in the Afghanistan war because of its foreign policies which allows the nation to intervene in international matters when it deems it fit to do so. The US joined the Vietnam war in the early 1950s in order to prevent the north Vietnam communist forces together with their allies notably China and the USSR from forcing south Vietnam to adopt the communism policies. At first, the United States undermined the ability of the communist forces in this war fighting effectively and eventually winning the war. As a result, the United States was reluctant to get involved in the war directly and instead opted to empower the South Vietnamese forces by providing them with training and military equipment. However, as the war intensified United States changed its approach and became directly involved in the war (Cogan, 2009).

Unfortunately, even after the US became directly involved in the war, nothing much changed as the communist forces continued to fight with a lot of determination thus overwhelming the US forces in several occasions. During this particular conflict, the United States massively failed to employ the necessary military intelligence which could have enabled it to establish the fighting tactics that were being used by the Vietnamese communist forces. Failure to apply the military intelligence in the right manner also made the US military forces to be less effective in predicting several attacks from the communist forces. Therefore, if president Obama hopes to easily overcome the Afghanistan war, then his administration has no alternative but to employ a lot of military intelligence in order to establish the fighting tactics that are being used by the Taliban forces and the tactics its military forces have to employ in countering them. By doing so, the Obama administration will increase its efficiency of countering the Taliban forces thereby overpowering them more easily (Cogan, 2009).

Just like in the case of the Vietnam War, which was being funded by various governments such as China and USSR that were opposed to the US policies, the on going war is also being funded by various organizations and governments from allover the world. One of the major ways of ensuring that president Obama wins this war is by determining all the nations and organizations involved either directly or indirectly in supporting the Talibans against the US forces. After establishing such nations and organizations, president Obama has to apply the political, military and economic powers of his country together with the US influence in the UN Security Council to ensure that such organizations are stopped from supporting the Talibans. Should president Obama manage to do so, then it will become much easier for the US military forces to defeat them since the Talibans will be less funded and can therefore not sustain a major war for a long time (Parsons, 2009).

As far as the United States is concerned, winning the Afghanistan war does not necessarily mean fighting and killing all the Talibans and their supporters in this particular war. However, winning this war means that the main objectives of getting involved in the war in the first place are achieved. This therefore means that if the US can use its military force to make the Talibans and such other forces stop their terrorist activities and also bring an end to the massive incidences of violating the human rights, then the US can be said to have won the war. President Obama should therefore diversify his approach to the war and start using other techniques and tactics that are aimed at meeting the initial objectives of joining the Afghanistan war (Parsons, 2009).

The Obama administration should therefore seek some form of dialogue with the leaders of the Talibans and other terrorist organization that are involved in the war so that all the parties can find a common ground and hence resolve the conflict with less bloodshed. Adopting such a strategy can in fact prove to be the most effective and efficient means of resolving the conflict. However, for it to be effective, all the parties involved in the conflict must be fully committed in resolving the conflict. If there are some parties that are less committed to such talks then the intended fruits might never be achieved. President Obama together with his entire administration has to seek all the necessary support and influence and ensure that each and every relevant party is not only included in such talks but is in fact committed to them. This implies that all the parties involved in the Afghanistan conflict and which take part in conflict resolution talks should obey all the resolutions that are made in such meetings. Should president Obama succeed in making all the nations and organizations involved in the Afghanistan war to hold talks and be committed to them, then he can easily win the war without so much physical fighting (Cogan, 2009).

In the real sense, the US forces had actually won the Vietnam War but the communist forces were not quick at accepting defeat and by the time the US finally conceded defeat, the communist forces were at the verge of doing the same. In the Afghanistan war, the US should not only consider the attacks being carried out by the Taliban forces to determine whether they are already defeated or not, it should actually weigh the force of such attacks and establish whether they have already been defeated or not. In doing so, the US will be in a position of determining when to intensify its attacks and thus overpower the Taliban forces without conceding defeat when it has technically won the battle (Parsons, 2009).

There are reasons that make the Talibans and other terrorist organizations in the country to form such organizations and fight against the US forces. Most of these reasons are based on religion and other ideologies that are firmly believed by the members of Taliban and other terrorist organizations. As long as these people continue to believe in such ideologies and religious beliefs, there is no amount of force that will ever deter them from going on with the fighting. This therefore implies that, if President Obama hopes to win this war not only in the short term but also in the long run, then he has no alternative but to look for strategies of altering such beliefs and ideologies. If he is effective in such strategies, he will therefore have addressed the real illness instead of simply dealing with the symptoms. By making the Talibans and members of other terrorist organizations taking part in the Afghanistan war stop believing in the ideologies and beliefs that make them to fight, President Obama will assist America in fighting terrorism and not terrorists. Eliminating terrorism will be a major step in removing all the fear that is associated with it, however by only concentrating on fighting terrorists, then others will be trained and the terrorism course will be continued (Cogan, 2009).

Conclusion
President Obama has a great task ahead of him of ensuring that the initial objectives that made his country to join the Afghanistan war are achieved and at the same time ensure that US does not suffer another humiliating defeat as it happened in the 1970s after it was defeated by the Vietnamese communist forces. The Obama administration has to apply all the available strategies of war to ensure that it actually wins this war and thus save the world and particularly the Americans from the treats that are posed by terrorism. Winning this particular war can also be a great achievement as far as human rights for the Afghan people is concerned. The win can bring an end to the massive cases of human rights violations that take place on a daily basis in the war torn nation of Afghanistan.