Parag Khanna's maps of the South Central Asia around the 12 minute mark in the video below is a great way of understanding our role in Afghanistan. With this map you can assume that we are not leaving Afghanistan for a long time. We need it to be safe to deliver oil from the South Central Asian countries that most Americans don't even know about. These small countries have great wealth waiting to be shipped overseas for Chinese and American demand. During the fall of Soviet Russia Oil and natural gas was found in the Central Asian countries of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2009.