It’s the oil, stupid.

“At first when I saw this thread, I thought, "Huh?" But then I remembered thinking about Afghanistan and what others have said.

Yeah, it's the oil!! Heck, maybe WE can take it over and have all those oil reservers to ourselves. And could leave that National Arctic Wildlife Refuge alone!! All while kicking Taliban heinie!! I think Dubya would certainly see that as a "win, win" situation. (Well, IF we win, that is. Hope we do!!)”

“Well, oil is important, but I think there is a very complex history here.

We made some decisions based on balance of power with the Soviet Union. We made some decisions on the failed hope that Israel would become a democracy.

We made some decisions because of the aftereffects of the Holocaust. We made some decisions based on how best to defeat the Germans in WWII.

To say simply that oil is the issue is just wrong. It also absolves the fringe left from taking responsibility for opposition to cleaner fuel sources that do not involve chasing windmills.”

“There is a lot of truth there.”

“Afghanistan is such a small oil producer their output can be safely ignored.

They do have significant natural gas reserves, though.”

“TT has TONS of natural gas!”