Liberation, France: How to Give Afghanistan Back to the Afghans

[Lars77]

http://watchingamerica.com/News/39888/how-to-give-afghanistan-back-to-the-afghans/

We cannot hope to "win the war" in Afghanistan without asking ourselves what we want and against whom we are fighting. What is the use of sending more Western troops?

[kenny blankenship]

1. Afghanistan is a needful thing we simply must have. We want it for the Long War

"We cannot hope to "win the war" in Afghanistan without asking ourselves what we want"
That's the rub - they CAN'T tell you why.

We want it because we're already there. Being there allows "us" to project power around the region, and to block China and Russia from projecting power in their own back yards. At some point a gas pipeline is to be run through Afghanistan, guess who tried to buy the company with the rights to that pipeline concession? That's right, China did. Where does the gas that will go through that pipeline come from ? That's right, it will come from Iran. It could also be joined by gas from 'Stan countries formerly under the empire of Russia. We want Afghanistan because we're supposed to be all out of Iraq at the end of 2011, and how then will we intimidate Iran with threat of land invasion and destabilization if we aren't on their borders? And lastly we want it because we plan to be at war within the Islamic world, or at war with the Islamic world for half a century. Afghanistan is a base. There's no central govt., nor any prospect of one, that could ever demand that we withdraw our troops the way Iraq is demanding. Afghanistan is like a gigantic military land grant. We have bases throughout the region but they are small and require us to pay ground leases, and to observe conditions placed on us by the host country concerning how many troops can be there, what kind of weapons can be offloaded there. Afghanistan is all ours - wide open with zero restrictions. You would have to drag the Pentagon out of there kicking and screaming.

[Lars77]

2. Exactly

why i was in the anti-war march that got zero press coverage here in Oslo during the Obamas brief nobel visit.

I think it's sad that America's working poor is being fooled into going there to "fight for freedom", but i don't want my country to be part of it. Unfortunately we have a government that's been very loyal to the US.

You are spot on about the gas pipeline, i have been to Turkmenistan and seen the completely ridicilous capital with its crazy statues and monuments, and the rest of the country which looks like Afghanistan but with paved roads. They are sitting on top of some of the largest natural gas reserves in the world, they are so great that gas actually comes up right out of the ground out in the desert (the soviets managed to set fire to it in the 70s, its still burning).

Unfortunately our state oil company Statoil has a huge interests all over the world.