Quote from Rearden Metal:
post 9/11 national desire to 'go over there and kick some ass for what they did to us'.
You don't need permanent bases for kicking ass. A quick Kick Ass Tour shouldn't have lasted for more than a year.
Afghanistan is/was about gas/oil pipelines*, but some are being built now with an alternate route, if I recall.
Lithium is BS. It is in Chile:
"The largest reserve base of lithium is in the Salar de Uyuni area of Bolivia, which has 5.4 million tons. US Geological Survey, estimates that in 2009 Chile had the largest reserves by far (7.5 million tonnes) and the highest annual production (7,400 tonnes). Other major suppliers include Australia, Argentina and China. Other estimates put Argentina's reserve base (7.52 million tonnes) above that of Chile (6 million)."
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*Of mice and gas pipes:
"What makes sense now, from a U.S. imperialist point of view? Just look at the map. Realize that Afghanistan has no products the U.S. corporate world wants or needs. During the Cold War, Iran, Iraq, Turkey sometimes played crucial roles in U.S. geostrategic thinking but Afghanistan was practically conceded to the Soviet camp even before 1978. It only acquired significance as a Cold War battleground when U.S. strategists realized (in Brzezinskiâs words) that they could âbleed the Sovietsâ¦the way they did us in Vietnam.â More recently, it has acquired significance as U.S. energy corporations do global battle with the Russians over access to Caspian Sea natural gas.
At present Europe is dependent on the supply of gas via Russia from the Caspian Sea, principally from Turkmenistan. This gives Moscow enormous political leverage when it comes to such matters as NATOâs decision to admit Georgia or Ukraine. U.S. policy has been to build pipelines from the Caspian avoiding Russia or Iran. Construction of the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) pipeline which will pump the gas straight to the Indian Ocean and on to world markets has been long delayed due to the fighting in Afghanistan.
The pipeline will run through Helmand province, then into Pakistanâs Balochistan. If it all works out, this will represent a highly significant improvement in the geostrategic position of the U.S."
P.S.: For extra credit:
"In 1998,
Dick Cheney, now US vice-president but then chief executive of a major oil services company, remarked:
"I cannot think of a time when we have had a region emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the Caspian." But the oil and gas there is worthless until it is moved. The only route which makes both political and economic sense is through Afghanistan. [Guardian]"
