There is no pot of gold waiting in Afghanistan.

[moondust]

No big oil fields. No big consumer market for corporations to exploit. No great urgency for Wal-Mart to move in. No big payoff.

No illusions, no deception.

Unlike Dick Cheney's Iraq fantasy.

As such there is likely not much corporate pressure on the Obama administration to push on and stay at all costs.

And polls show a majority of Americans don't want to be there.

Thus with little civilian pressure to stay, I tend to think the Obama administration is paying due diligence to a very, very difficult situation with many unpredictable variables in an effort to act responsibly based on the intelligence they have (and we may not have) to prevent a return to the tragic security situation of 9/11.

I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. "Winning" in Afghanistan may mean little more than not losing.

Flame away.

[sandnsea]

1. There's a pipeline

And Karzai is an oil buddy of the Bushies. Google it up.

[ixion]

3. yep, that's the real reason we're "liberating" them

so Big Oil gets a pipeline. :grr:

[sandnsea]

4. It's not that simple

Iraq wasn't that simple. Maintaining millitary control over the world's energy supply is much more important than the direct money it generates.

[moondust]

9. I doubt that's enough

for the Obama admin. It may have been enough for Bush and Cheney because they weren't very close to the human sacrifices.

[sandnsea]

10. Agree. But we're still stuck with Karzai

and his corruption. And the oil pipeline negotiations with the Taliban started under Clinton.

It was Senator Kerry who said that the work of the military is pretty much protecting oil fields, pipelines and shipping lanes that carry oil.

[LakeSamish706]

2. Yeah, but there are drugs... Lots of Opium worth mega $$$$ n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Which is more valuable to humanity,

pot or gold?

[moondust]

6. LOL.

I give up.

[Blue_In_AK]

7. I'm sorry.

I was overtaken by an evil demon -- I couldn't help myself. :evilgrin:

[C_Lawyer09]

8. Yes, if you were to take a world map and pushpin it

720 something posts over 130 countries you'd notice an interesting similarity, which is proximity to resources or ways to transport those resources.

[sandnsea]

11. I really think that needs to be done

I just posted that basic info above, per Senator Kerry a few years ago. It was kind of buried in a speech he gave at some point, only said it a few times. But it's still true. The only way people would get it is with a map and I don't have the knowledge at the tip of my fingertips, nor the time to research all of it.

[C_Lawyer09]

12. I'll see what I can do

Chalmers Johnson writes some in depth stuff that may help flesh it out, or maybe I'll hit up some DOD resources. I'm a firm believer that resource scarcity is going to cause some major destabilization over the next two decades.