What are America's 'vital interests' in Afghanistan?

[bigtree]

"I will not risk your lives unless it is necessary to America's vital interests," Obama told an enthusiastic group of Air Force personnel today.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2009/11/obama-wont-hesitate-to-use-force-if-necessary/1

Are there 'vital interests in Afghanistan?

[virgogal]

1. Poppies?

[gateley]

2. I've always thought our "vital interests" meant oil, such as our vital interests in Iraq. nt

[Rhiannon12866]

3. I thought it was capturing or killing those responsible for 9/11.

We haven't done that yet. :shrug:

[bigtree]

7. military says al-Qaeda has been routed from Afghanistan for a while now

But I get your point. The president has said our goal there is to disrupt their network and dismantle them in the country and the region.

[madrchsod]

13. those guys are causing shit in yemen....

and the saudi`s are at war with them.

[Alamuti Lotus]

34. al-Qai'dah types believe those Zaidis to be lower than Jews or Americans

the matter is not as you describe.

[Rhiannon12866]

17. Exactly. That was the justification for going there.

If that's no longer the aim or if al-Quaeda is no longer in the region, it makes no sense to remain there... :shrug:

[Sinti]

4. I certainly hope he's not willing

to risk their lives for the TAPI pipeline, or the IPI for that matter (though I don't think that's ours, yet). I don't care if it's "in our interests." Let the businessmen negotiate their price without the bloodshed, please.




edited to correct reprehensible and egregious spelling error/typo type thing.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

14. There is no pipeline. There's probably not ever going to BE a pipeline.

It's nothing more than a pipe dream of certain oil interests and neoconservatives. Nobody is going to build an oil pipeline through a perpetual war zone.

[bigtree]

20. that may be true

but that hasn't stopped the interests in the countries involved (and those who aim to take advantage of it, either politically or monetarily) from positioning their resources and alliances for their hoped for dominance over it all. That's what an alliance with the Afghan regime (and Pakistan) provides the American interests in a future pipeline - other nations have made the same opportunistic alliances with the Karzai regime.

[Sinti]

24. I was assuming

that the oil interests would desire a "pacification" of the country. Their desire would be to have it quite stable.

However, if their hand-picked man is in charge of the country, they'll get a much better deal. After all, they would have to negotiate some price with the Afghan government. I don't think our soldiers should be used to facilitate these kinds of "deals". The oil interests should be forced to deal with whomever the Afghan people select without coercion.

[madrchsod]

15. that`s the one uncle dickie wanted.

he invited them to talk about construction and transfer fees/payments and they turned him down.it`s always been about the pipeline. the taliban and bin boys really did`t trust each other. the afghans did`t like the arabs in their country.

[anigbrowl]

5. Denying state powers to Islamic fundamentalists

Regardless of how you feel about the war, the previous setup where the Taliban officially ran the country was not good for the security of the west. Now whether you feel that a barely-qualifying democratic government there is worth fighting to prop up or not, you rmileage may vary.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

6. "Hopium?"

[karynnj]

8. denying Al Qaeda a safe haven and avoiding further destabalizing Pakistan

Obama has given these reasons. (Note the welcome absence of spreading democracy)

[marshall]

9. According to John Kerry.....

... it is to “prevent the Taliban - with their long-standing ties to Al Qaeda - from once again providing terrorists with an unfettered Afghan safe haven.’’


http://www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/news/commentary/keep-us-goals-modest

[madrchsod]

10. the carter and reagan doctrine

it`s to keep the soviet union from controlling middle east oil by any means necessary.the bad guys we used to get rid of the russians. the same bad guys uncle dick tried to sign pipeline deals with. the same bad guys that bush now obama is waging war against.....

[wuushew]

11. Not a damn thing

none, nada, zip

[ddeclue]

12. ending al Qaeda requires engaging them on their home turf - that's Af-Pak.

[arcadian]

21. It's cute that you believe that

[Sebastian Doyle]

27. Their home turf?

You mean Langley VA?

[blues90]

16. A pipeline and poppies

Big money makers and no matter who dies or suffers from these it seems to matter not.

[BeHereNow]

36. Love you babe- still playing?

Making music is our only defense at this point.

The '57 Sorrento still awaits you...

BHN

[blues90]

40. Yes I still play , but now I have a left trigger thumb

But I fight through that and keep going . No insurace of couse but hoping it will heal on it's own.

Good to hear from you my friend .

[BeHereNow]

42. Sorry to hear that, but glad you keep pickin!

My friend, the fiddle player, just had to have thumb surgery on his bow hand.
The cartilage collapsed.
$78,000 dollars.
BHN

[upi402]

18. Military Industrial Complex looting the treasury

That's about all, unless you collect rocks or use heroin.

[BeFree]

28. Yep

Profits, however they can be obtained.

Gen. Smedly Butler wrote about it 50 years ago.

[Sebastian Doyle]

19. Oil company interests, yes. Gas company interests, yes. Bush Crime Family heroin interests, yes....

American interests? Never was any, never will be. Get the fuck out NOW.

[XemaSab]

22. One could say that the oppression of women somewhere

is the oppression of women everywhere.

[EFerrari]

25. And yet the biggest (afaik) women's org in Afghanistan came out against

an increase in American troops.

[bigtree]

26. why in Afghanistan?

Some observers say the government our troops are fighting and dying for has operated against the interests of women there. Why not elsewhere? It's a pretty slippery proposition that our nation's defenders' mandate is to defend against 'oppression everywhere'.

[Alamuti Lotus]

33. Are the bombs and tanks oppressive? I would think so, but .....

I would think that being strafed by an Apache would be violating some aspect of women's liberation, but I cannot be sure.

[rucky]

23. It's the number two exporter of potassium.

Most other countries have inferior potassium.

[havocmom]

29. poppies and pipeline routes

oh, and lots of capitalists are making obscene amounts of money contracting war dogs to keep the fights going.

[leftstreet]

30. Poppies, Pipelines, Profits, Presence

Priceless

[ConsAreLiars]

31. Some seem to believe (chuckle/mourn the ignorance) that US Empire is channeling Mother Teresa

rather than serving the interests of those who are the dominating owner/operators of that country and its killing machinery.

The 'vital interests' are many. Selling killing machines, stealing and transporting raw materials, geopolitical positioning for further pillage, impoverishing the commoners in the US and reducing their political significance and using fear/jingoism to manipulate them, and so on.

[Jack Fate]

32. America's vital interest in Afghanistan is to get the fuck out.

[Greyhound]

35. Natural gas pipeline.

We're dying to protect corporate property and profits, nothing more.

[Naturyl]

37. Poppies and UNOCAL gas pipleine.

You asked, I answered.

[EFerrari]

38. Yes, and I'd add the proxy war India and Pakistan are having

in Afghanistan.

And probably in that order.

[wuushew]

39. kick

:kick:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

41. It's a political "Vital Interest" not to be embarrased by adimitting to another lost war.

Instead, we get political maneuvering a la "Peace with Honor" while wasting lives and bankrupting the nation.

[Individualist]

43. Oil and the military industrial complex