"America" has sway in Afghanistan for the same reason we have had sway in any 3rd world country. Give "America" a country full of sticks and rocks (and little else), with an ignorant, highly uneducated population.... and guess what? That little country will be exploited, then told what to do. If they don't obey, the checkbook goes in the back pocket. Rebuilding their country? LOL It's like thanking the guy who shot you when he throws a bandaid at you.
[quote name='"buylow8863"'] "America" has sway in Afghanistan for the same reason we have had sway in any 3rd world country. Give "America" a country full of sticks and rocks (and little else), with an ignorant, highly uneducated population.... and guess what? That little country will be exploited, then told what to do. If they don't obey, the checkbook goes in the back pocket. Rebuilding their country? LOL It's like thanking the guy who shot you when he throws a bandaid at you.[/quote] What exactly are we exploiting from Afghanistan? The place is desolate. Besides a few large mineral deposits, Afghanistan doesn't compare in natural resource to it's neighbors.
UH KIDDO...the USA financed and trained the Taliban...the CIA has been smuggling heroin out of there for decades....longer then you have been alive...you really need to stop sipping the FOX news koolaid and learn what has really gone on in history. no need for the USA to rebuild a country if we just don't bomb it into a pile of festering dead bodies and rubble..imagine that, don't destroy things then you don't need to rebuild those things AS AN EXCUSE TO OCCUPY THEIR COUNTRY FOR OIL AND MINERAL RIGHTS.
You mean aside from building an empire of military bases all across the region and pushing political parties to bend over backwards for American interests at the cost of the Afghans...? Educate yourself. ----- Notice that although Iran hasn't been colonized by the US yet, it's borders are littered with military bases. America's going to war with Iran, and it's been many, many years in the making. Wake the fuck up.
[quote name='"GavinGill"'] You mean aside from building an empire of military bases all across the region and pushing political parties to bend over backwards for American interests at the cost of the Afghans...? Educate yourself. ----- Notice that although Iran hasn't been colonized by the US yet, it's border's are littered with military bases. America's going to war with Iran, and it's been many, many years in the making. Wake the fuck up.[/quote] War with Iran would be like the war against Saddam's army. We destroyed them as an effective fighting force within weeks. Plus we would have the IDF backing us up. Also we are leaving Afghanistan. If we just packed up our bags and left at once, the country would turn to absolute shit rather than semi shitty.
[quote name='"BarefootRunner"']Why do we have such a bone to pick with Iran? Never heard a good reason yet.[/quote] Oil. Oil.
What's your point? You asked why America would want to exploit Afghanistan, and I answered your question - to strengthen their dominance in that region. Of course America would decimate them, with the amount of money America spends on military, there's not a single country on the planet that stands a chance (without the use of nukes). No, not at all. America has never left any country it's occupied. Ever. Once a military base has been set up, it stays permanently. Just look at what happened in Okinawa. That little island has absolutely no strategic value and everyone there wants the US out (mainly because the soldiers are free to do as they wish since they're exempt from Okinawa's laws [like the soldiers that got away with gang-raping a 12 year old girl... plus a whole bunch of similar crimes against the Okinawan people]). The base is used as a getaway for soldiers and their families, a fucking resort. If you think the US is going to leave Afghanistan, then I suggest you do some more research. Wouldn't have had to worry about that if you guys hadn't started the shitstorm in the first place...
You act like our aid to a country is some unalienable right, and they deserve our money to do whatever they would like. Of course if we give hands outs we will want something in return, obviously, that's the way the world works. They are in no way obligated to take our American money. If we were running the world we would force the people to become Americans. We would force them to speak our language and live our culture. We are 5% of the population. We make up 20% of the world's GDP. We make up 40% of the world's defense spending. #winning.
Oh, OK, so they "transformed." It's not time for semantics. Did we arm Sadam Hussein? Yep. Did we arm the SOLDIERS that then defected to the Zetas cartel? Yep. Did the Mujhadeen become what we know to be the Taliban? Yep. (I didn't realize I had to go to the logical conclusion in mentioning these things.) And when countries come in and try to push you around for oil and mineral rights (or a massive natural gas pipeline to the West from SE Asia needs guarding such as in Afghanistan) do we expect them to get pissed? It's not surprising. Put a convenient "terrorism" label on them in the media. I'm sure many countries around the world see us as the "terrorists" and THEIR media is busy portraying us as such, just like our own media. It makes the "enemy" more "palatable" to destroy by not mentioning we made them to begin with (oops.) So maybe they just want us the frack out? Would we want foreign occupiers out of our nation? Damn right I want the Federal Reserve gone.
Did you forget about 9/11? The reason we invaded Afghanstain was because the Taliban was allowing Al-qaeda safe haven.
NEOCAN's got this one brainwashed good... baaa for your shepherds little fella <scratches behind Palms wooly ears> BTW...those 'hand outs' ...
yayaya...lets ignore his being found and killed on Pakistan soil...Pakistan was aiding him for how long ???? oh and we armed, trained, and gave hundreds of millions to the Taliban to overthrow that countries last ruling body .... ya...why dwell on little things like facts. baaa little fella, baaa loud..
The goal of the war was not to overthrow the taliban. It was to prevent another 9/11, you know that day when 3,000 americans died thanks to al-qaeda? Yes, Bin Laden was in Pakistan. He fled once we started bombing the shit out of Afghanastain. We never once funded the Taliban, this is bullshit information. mujahideen does not equal taliban. America never trained the Taliban, ever. Learn some fucking history. ---- edit, earlier you said we were occupying Afghanistan for it's oil and minerals that's another lie seeing how China has the majority of the market in Afghanistan. Good try on making America look evil though.
Yes, Al Queda. The enemy we never see but must perpetually fear and give up all of our rights over. I realize that was the justification, but I don't for a moment believe it was the true impetus for us going there. DRUGS. We wanted drugs to sell. (That, and mineral rights, along with Afghanistan being a critically strategic corridor for natural gas pipelines from SE Asia.) Our government scares me a helluva lot more than "Al Queda" does. Not even close.
The entire goal of the war in afghanistan was to overthrow the taliban. Mullah Omars compound was one of the first targets to be hit with cruise missiles. 9/11 was the work of al qaeda however their leaders, such as bin laden (who died shortly after 9/11 of natural causes), tricked all the stupid jihadis into doing a favor for the true power holders. these power holders are not the government per se but a lot of them are IN the government. we did not kill bin laden. we used that as a cover story because we would need something that important to not get in international shit for invading a soverign nation. what did we do then? well eye witnesses say they took 2 live men and no bodies. you're right. we never trained the taliban but we funded and armed most of the warlords who eventually banded together to form the taliban. maybe you should learn some history.