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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. On Mayt 1, 2003, in what aircraft carrier did Bush fly to and give a speech?

2. When did Fahim Khan die of natural causes?

3. How many troops deployed to Afghanistan over two decades?

4. During the summer of 2006, how many times a week did Bickford and his unit clash with insurgents?

5. What percent of Afghanistan was Sunni Muslim in Chapter 6?

Short Essay Questions

1. What were Rumsfeld's snowflakes?

2. What did Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute say about strategic thinking in regards to Afghanistan?

3. Why did Army Maj. William Burley grow a beard when he went to Afghanistan?

4. What did ISI leader Lt. Gen. Ashfaq Kayani say when Ryan Crocker asked him to crack down against Taliban leaders believed to be seeking refuge in Pakistan?

5. What happened on February 27, 2007, at Bagram Air Base?

6. How did the war in Afghanistan transform Bush's political standing?

7. What did an Afghan general said about the three different types of Taliban in Chapter 8?

8. Why was Afghanistan in need of nation-building in 2001?

9. How did Roger Pardo-Maurer describe Kandahar?

10. How did American struggle to determine whose side Pakistan was on?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There seemed to be a "never-ending game of cat and mouse" along the Pakistan/Afghan border. U.S. forces frequently wondered whose side the Pakistanis were on. Why were there questions regarding who the Pakistanis were supporting and how did they seem to be playing both sides of the conflict?

Essay Topic 2

Whitlock wrote that the Bush administration blurred the line between al-Qaeda and the Taliban. How did the Bush administration blur the differences between al-Qaeda and the Taliban? How did the failure to differentiate between the groups make it difficult to understand who the bad guys were?

Essay Topic 3

Metaphors and similes are figures of speech that are used to make comparisons between things. Metaphors seem to imply an equal comparison, while similes seem to imply a similarity between two things. Does Whitlock use more metaphors or similes in The Afghanistan Papers? How does the use of metaphors or similes help readers comprehend concepts? How does the use of metaphors or similes help make the writing more interesting?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 940 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample