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Afghanistan
US wants Afghanistan’s wealth, strategic position: Analyst
2018-11-21
[PRESSTV] The United States has no plans to end the war in Afghanistan despite knowing full well that there is no military solution to the ongoing conflict in the country, says an American political commentator, arguing that America’s interests in the Asian country far outweigh the costs of war.

Stephen Lendman, a reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,...
-based author and radio host, made the remarks while discussing remarks by General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who admitted that the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
"are not losing" in Afghanistan.

Speaking during a discussion at a security forum in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Sunday, the top US military officer said much more needed to be done to bring peace to the war-torn country 17 years into the longest war in American history.

Dunford admitted "what has been well known for so many years; that the war in Afghanistan is something America can never win, no matter how long they fight it," Lendman told Press TV on Tuesday.

Lendman said the war was part of a regional plot by the CIA and the Mossad to steal Afghanistan’s vast mineral resources

While the US Department of Defense’s estimates have put Afghanistan’s untapped wealth of gold, copper, uranium and other rare-earth minerals at well around $1 trillion, Afghan officials’ latest geological studies hint at figures three times larger.

The number can probably explain Washington’s willingness to continue the war in Afghanistan, which has dragged on for 16 years and has cost the US economy more than $714 billion dollars, according to the Pentagon's Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) July report.

Posted by:Fred

#10  There is some merit to what I have heard said that once we leave if we ever come back the only thing American touching the ground will be high explosives. And those will go until the rubble bounces a few times.
Posted by: Boss Spoper5850   2018-11-21 14:45  

#9  A fool lies here who tried to hustle the East.
Rudyard Kipling
Poor W actually thought you could upgrade the 7th century Muslim mind and culture. Aside from weapons and technology they have no idea how to actually make, just foolishly naive.
Posted by: NoMoreBS   2018-11-21 12:55  

#8  What #6 P2K said, a Punitive Expedition, or as the Colonial British phrased it "A 'Butcher and Bolt' Expedition over the Frontier to chastise the bandits", would have made sense. Every so often Teddy Roosevelt's Big Stick must be used to remind people that its "so much better to be Nice".
Staying and trying to Change them... waste of time, blood and treasure.
Posted by: magpie   2018-11-21 12:36  

#7  
Posted by: Jack Chaiter7913   2018-11-21 11:15  

#6  I remember the culprits who took down two towers in New York were funded and based out of Afghanistan. Now in ancient times that would have called for going full Mongol on the place which would have taken less than a year [and would have rightly impressed the neighbors]. Instead the 'Best and Brightest' decided that we couldn't do such a beastly thing. So, here we are, soon to be in the second decade of expending unending resources, playing at war. Sort of like NATO, but with live fire exercises.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2018-11-21 06:53  

#5  Raj: Bombing has been a boon to lapis lazuli collectors.
Posted by: Chereting Pelosi1889   2018-11-21 06:48  

#4  If it were only as innocent as #3. Oxygen is to a fire, as war and conflict are to the Klingon. There need be no other reason or justification.

Anyone calling for increased staff or funding from the office of the Chief of Station, US Embassy, Bern, SZ? No, I thought not.

Posted by: Besoeker   2018-11-21 05:04  

#3  Abiline Paradox ?

On a hot afternoon visiting in Coleman, Texas, the family is comfortably playing dominoes on a porch, until the father-in-law suggests that they take a trip to Abilene [53 miles (85 km) north] for dinner. The wife says, "Sounds like a great idea." The husband, despite having reservations because the drive is long and hot, thinks that his preferences must be out-of-step with the group and says, "Sounds good to me. I just hope your mother wants to go." The mother-in-law then says, "Of course I want to go. I haven't been to Abilene in a long time."

The drive is hot, dusty, and long. When they arrive at the cafeteria, the food is as bad as the drive. They arrive back home four hours later, exhausted.

One of them dishonestly says, "It was a great trip, wasn't it?" The mother-in-law says that, actually, she would rather have stayed home, but went along since the other three were so enthusiastic. The husband says, "I wasn't delighted to be doing what we were doing. I only went to satisfy the rest of you." The wife says, "I just went along to keep you happy. I would have had to be crazy to want to go out in the heat like that." The father-in-law then says that he only suggested it because he thought the others might be bored.

The group sits back, perplexed that they together decided to take a trip which none of them wanted. They each would have preferred to sit comfortably, but did not admit to it when they still had time to enjoy the afternoon.
Posted by: Besoeker   2018-11-21 04:49  

#2  Lendman said the war was part of a regional plot by the CIA and the Mossad to steal Afghanistan’s vast mineral resources

Besides opium, what exactly are 'Afghanistan’s vast mineral resources'? No Borat potassium jokes, okay?
Posted by: Raj   2018-11-21 01:16  

#1  Yup. Trump tried to get us out only to be overruled by the shrieks of the deep state.
Posted by: Herb McCoy   2018-11-21 01:06  

00:00