View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. When did Director of National Intelligence James Clapper serve as an analyst briefer for General William Westmoreland in Vietnam?

2. How far was the Kajaki Dam from Kandahar?

3. When Trump made his speech to announce his new strategy for the war in Afghanistan, how long had the war been in progress?

4. During Trump's first three years in office, how many villains were killed yearly by U.S., NATO, and Afghan airstrikes?

5. In Chapter 15, how many armed guards did a convoy of 300 trucks typically require for basic protection?

Short Essay Questions

1. How and why did Karzai steal the 2009 election?

2. Why did the Afghan army and police forces look strong on paper?

3. Why was it difficult to hold opium drug lords accountable?

4. What corruption erupted after Karzai was reelected, and in what way was the U.S. partially responsible?

5. In Chapter 16, why was Obama's war strategy failing?

6. What public image did Petraeus and McChrystal have?

7. What problems were there with the quality of the Afghan recruits?

8. What did President Joe Biden say when he annnounced his decision regarding Afghanistan?

9. What did a senior U.S. official who served as a civilian in Afghanistan say about Obama's surge strategy being a mistake?

10. What problems were there with the plan to rebuild the aging hydroelectric power station at the Kajaki Dam?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

There seemed to be no “coherent long-term strategy” (105) in Afghanistan. What strategies were tried in Afghanistan, and how did they affect operations in the country?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,135 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample