Entry 2: ISIS in Afghanistan
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Hello dear sirs,
Today I heard something on the news that deeply upset me: ISIS claims responsibility for suicide bombing that killed 36 in the Afghan city of Jalalabad.[1] Like many individuals, I have been enraged about ISIS for months, but have also begun to notice that- resulting from conditioning- the rage I felt when ISIS first came to international attention is becoming harder and harder to call forth. The news that ISIS was beginning to move into Afghanistan, though, reignited that rage.
My extended essay is a historical essay on the recent history of Afghanistan. While I can by no means claim to have a deep understanding of Afghanistan’s history and the sentiments of its people, my research has allowed me a glimpse of Afghanistan’s struggle to be Afghanistan. In the nineteenth century, Afghanistan was invaded and occupied by the British. During the Cold War, Afghanistan was occupied- I mean supported by the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union’s withdrawal, Afghanistan was thrown into a period of turmoil as the Mujaheddin groups who had once fought together to expel the Soviets began fighting each other to take power over the different regions in Afghanistan and the country itself. Under the Taliban, Afghanistan experienced order in some areas, but was made to comply with the Taliban's fundamentalist Islamic values. Even today, different rebel groups in and around the country, and a young democracy that is struggling to establish order in the country clearly show the negative effects that shifting powers have had in Afghanistan. Knowing this about Afghanistan’s history, I was incensed to see that ISIS was a force that was once again preventing the country from developing and finding peace.
While my emotional reaction is not comparable to those of the Afghani people, it is clear that my knowledge of Afghanistan’s history, as well as the brief history of ISIS, greatly affected my emotional response to the situation. After learning about what I perceived as a struggle for existence, both by the Afghani people and the country, I was outraged that another group was trying to sabotage Afghanistan's fragile state once again.
To put this issue into TOK perspective, this situation can be applied to the following WOKs and AOKs: emotion, memory, history, human sciences, religious knowledge, and ethics. Using this situation and TOK terminology, this issue can be put into the following knowledge statement: history can greatly affect emotion. This statement can then be translated into this knowledge question: to what extent does history affect emotion? Please click on the button below to explore this knowledge question!
See you next time as we continue to ponder our existence!
-Jo
[1] Rahim, Fazul. Smith, Alexander. ISIS-Linked Fighters Tighten Grip in Afghanistan, Outmatch Taliban Brutality. NBC News. May 1, 2015. Accessed May 2, 2015. http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/atmosphere-terror-isis-linked-fighters-tighten-grip-afghanistan-n347801
Today I heard something on the news that deeply upset me: ISIS claims responsibility for suicide bombing that killed 36 in the Afghan city of Jalalabad.[1] Like many individuals, I have been enraged about ISIS for months, but have also begun to notice that- resulting from conditioning- the rage I felt when ISIS first came to international attention is becoming harder and harder to call forth. The news that ISIS was beginning to move into Afghanistan, though, reignited that rage.
My extended essay is a historical essay on the recent history of Afghanistan. While I can by no means claim to have a deep understanding of Afghanistan’s history and the sentiments of its people, my research has allowed me a glimpse of Afghanistan’s struggle to be Afghanistan. In the nineteenth century, Afghanistan was invaded and occupied by the British. During the Cold War, Afghanistan was occupied- I mean supported by the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union’s withdrawal, Afghanistan was thrown into a period of turmoil as the Mujaheddin groups who had once fought together to expel the Soviets began fighting each other to take power over the different regions in Afghanistan and the country itself. Under the Taliban, Afghanistan experienced order in some areas, but was made to comply with the Taliban's fundamentalist Islamic values. Even today, different rebel groups in and around the country, and a young democracy that is struggling to establish order in the country clearly show the negative effects that shifting powers have had in Afghanistan. Knowing this about Afghanistan’s history, I was incensed to see that ISIS was a force that was once again preventing the country from developing and finding peace.
While my emotional reaction is not comparable to those of the Afghani people, it is clear that my knowledge of Afghanistan’s history, as well as the brief history of ISIS, greatly affected my emotional response to the situation. After learning about what I perceived as a struggle for existence, both by the Afghani people and the country, I was outraged that another group was trying to sabotage Afghanistan's fragile state once again.
To put this issue into TOK perspective, this situation can be applied to the following WOKs and AOKs: emotion, memory, history, human sciences, religious knowledge, and ethics. Using this situation and TOK terminology, this issue can be put into the following knowledge statement: history can greatly affect emotion. This statement can then be translated into this knowledge question: to what extent does history affect emotion? Please click on the button below to explore this knowledge question!
See you next time as we continue to ponder our existence!
-Jo
[1] Rahim, Fazul. Smith, Alexander. ISIS-Linked Fighters Tighten Grip in Afghanistan, Outmatch Taliban Brutality. NBC News. May 1, 2015. Accessed May 2, 2015. http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/atmosphere-terror-isis-linked-fighters-tighten-grip-afghanistan-n347801