Why are we still in Afghanistan?

[Simon Feltser]

I think, one of the reason America hasn’t left is that Afghanistan has strategic utility to anyone with hegemonic ambition in Washington DC Along with the American blue-water Navy and American bases in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan, Tajikstan, and Pakistan, Afghanistan provides a significant staging point for "American" "interests" in the region. The American presence in Afghanistan is easier to sell under the pretense of terrorism than the American presence in Iraq. More to the point, Iraq and Afghanistan bracket Iran and as such serve as a logistical staging ground to influence policy in Tehran. Iranian policy is important for two reasons: first, it is the world’s largest, yet to be exploited, owner of natural gas and a geographically important thoroughfare via land to Europe and via the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world. American, European, Russian, and Chinese oil companies are competing for access to Iranian reserves. Second, and less credibly, the danger to further proliferate nuclear weapons should be a legitimate concern to everyone inasmuch as it is actually real (and that reason seems doubtful to me) And there is another possible reason, which is more like a conspiracy theory. Afghanistan is a big drug trafficking. And this drug trafficking needed to control. To reap the benefits, of course

[Simon Feltser]

I believe that even if Obama will bring our troops out of Afghanistan according to "official data", there still will remains a contingent, which will not be made public. Afghanistan of course is a strong geopolitical interest

[Simon Feltser]

I believe that even if Obama will bring our troops out of Afghanistan according to "official data", there still will remains a contingent, which will not be made public. Afghanistan of course is a strong geopolitical interest

Is it?

For example, the presence in Afghanistan, reinforces the idea of ​​the New Silk Road (that is how the Obama administration imagines the future of the region), the emphasis is on the removal of trade barriers (tariffs, customs control, abuse, and others.) And the creation of new infrastructure to facilitate the movement of goods through Afghanistan mainly to markets in South Asia. And what more important - is the presence and influence in all that region to control territories close to the Russia