good reply. however, i respectfully disagree that Afghanistan is not strategic. You see, the Russians discovered one of the worlds largest reserves in the Caspian sea totalling an estimated 50 billion barrels (rumoured to be much more now, possibly even surpassing Saudi Arabias 261 billion barrels), a huge find. By comparison, the United States has known reserves of 21 billion barrels, while the North Sea field contains about 16 billion barrels.grendleaxe said:No oil or economic benefit to be had in Aghanistan and nowadays (unlike the time of the "great game",) not a very strategic location either. On the other hand their IS oil in Sudan and money to be made (remember Talisman Energy anyone? ) Can't blame this one on money and oil.
The American leadership would gladly cut and run in Afghanistan if they could explain it to the american public I think. Iraq is their war and the one they planning on before 9/11.
The difference between Sudan (also a haven for Osama before he moved to afghanistan... and I wouldn't be suprised if he was back there,) now and afghanistan now is that however precarious Afghanistan has a government, as well as people, that whant our help. In the Sudan it is the government and that would be the enemy.
Though the worlds apathy towards what is happening in Dafur is reprehensible , Afghanistan holds the promise, real or not, of a satisfactory end being in sight, albeit a long way off.
Because the Caspian Sea is landlocked, oil and natural gas must be transported by pipeline to a terminal on the open sea, where it would be pumped into tankers and shipped to customers.
Now what if the US had a plan, hypothetically speaking of course , to reduce credible terrorist threats AND make a killing (no pun intended) by isolating and controlling Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran (eventually and you know it is coming) in order to, lets say, build the pipeline to pump out through Iran.
If rumours were true, the US would be shipping from the middle east (Iranian ports) in direct competition to the Saudis, Iraq(now US anyway), UAE, Kuwait, and Iran (future US). They would then be able to sell the oil at dirt prices forcing the competition to match.
They would make a killing, eliminate middle east riches in terms of oil income, therefore decreasing money that is lent/given to terrorists to fund their expensive operations. Without this sorta money, these terrorist organizations cant buy essential arms as they do now on the black market.
Dont get me wrong, they'll still exist and buy weapons, but wont be able to afford the threatening ones. Theyd have to stick to planes or something.
The pipeline would have to go through Afghanistan simply because of the terrain in certain parts (yes I know Afghans got some bad terrain however, not those parts), therefore Afghanistan is key.
Just some non-sense I fathomed up.......
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