The US went into Afghanistan to steal all their shit and used 9/11 as an excuse. Plain and simple.

[tenderfoot]

Spare me this bullshit about fighting terrorism, caring about the rights of women or spreading Democracy.

Didn't work out. And it won't for Iran or China or Pakistan either.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. What was there to steal in Afghanistan? NT

[tenderfoot]

2. Minerals - the opium trade, etc...

eom

[EX500rider]

9. Sure, sure...

Everybody knows of the US desire to be the worlds largest opium dealer....really?

[EX500rider]

49. Not even sure what you are talking about

I responded to the assertion that the US was interested in taking over the opium trade...is that a "right wing talking point"?
And didn't even mention President Biden so not sure where you get "boiling over in anger" lol

[EX500rider]

53. lol

[Polybius]

63. Wow

I can't believe he said that.

[EX500rider]

55. "Estimated 1 trillion in minerals" So?

And in 20 years how many American owned mines opened in Afghanistan? Zero you say...quite the evil plot to steal their resources...I bet we wanted to fluoridate their water supplies to pollute their "precious bodily fluids" too!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. The Queen of England has that wrapped up.

Obituaries

Lyndon LaRouche Jr., conspiracy theorist and presidential candidate, dies at 96

[ProfessorGAC]

16. Not Buying It

They have few resources that can't be obtained more cheaply, more conveniently and less dangerously in many parts of the world.
People suggested nearly 20 years ago it was natural gas or a Persian Gulf pipeline. But, the US barely gets oil from there, and the natural gas deposits are a small fraction of the US.
The money motive just wasn't there.
It was a bungled revenge mission because somebody had to pay for nine-eleven. The Taliban had harbored OBL & al Qaida and they were a relatively soft target.
Then, the bunglers turned it into a nation building exercise. An endeavor in which they said they'd never engage. They bungled that too.
I do agree it never had anything to do with the Afghani people's rights, or their women's rights. The bunglers were never so enlightened.
If you're right, and it was about stuff to be pilfered, it was even dumber than it's already proven to be.

[Champp]

35. "...somebody had to pay for 9/11..."

And it sure as Hell wasn't going to be the oily and intimate Republican Saudi MoneyBuck Besties.

[Champp]

44. TFG and Jumpy Jared became intimate Saudi cronies - specially with darkside Prince...

...Mohammed bin Salman - whoa

[DFW]

37. Ironically, much recent pilfering was done by the Taliban

They looted museums, and found huge caches of ancient bronze, silver and gold coins buried by the many groups of ancient Greek (Bactrian), Indian and Persian groups that traveled through there two thousand years ago. They also find groups of them uncovered when bombs explode. They have been selling these things for close to twenty years, mostly through Denmark, which never adopted Germany's restrictive "cultural protection" laws. The German laws are a joke, anyway, because they were passed as a public relations move, without ever hiring even one antiquities expert with enough knowledge to recognize that a coin dated "214 B.C." obviously wasn't.

Many tens (hundreds?) of thousands of these ancient Indian and Parthian (Persian) coins have been imported, quite legally, into the USA and sold to the public, usually through mass marketing programs (TV and magazines, I would assume). Since 99% of these coins do not constitute any kind of rarities, no one can tell a Taliban-sold coin from an identical one that somebody's grandfather bought on a trip to Afghanistan in 1960 for $3. Large, recent quantities, however, are of obvious provenance. All those "conserv'tive" people buying an old coin "from the time of Jesus" from some slick marketer with a story would probably have a fit if they knew they were supporting the Taliban. But maybe not, since they seem to find a way to rationalize all the other screwy shit they advocate.

[JoanofArgh]

80. I learn so much on DU.

I had no clue about any of this. Thanks for posting!

[DFW]

82. I know one of their Scandinavian contacts and have seen some of their booty

Most of it looks like exotic junk until you hear the history behind it. It is really fascinating to learn about the ancient Greek expedition to the area and the founding of their colony there (Bactria). Then the northern Indian monarchs, and the very different artwork on their coins. The Persian ones are more difficult to relate to.

But the funniest part for me is who ends up buying this stuff in the USA. They would cringe in horror if they knew their continued purchasing of this stuff supported the Taliban. Indeed, one dealer in Texas I know was shocked when he found out, and told me he would stop peddling these particular items altogether. I have no idea whether he followed through with that, but he was pretty shaken, which surprised me. The Scandinavian contact never (to my knowledge) once lied about where his merchandise was coming from. All one had to do was ask.

[Dan]

92. +1

Totally agree with you!

[Takket]

23. The US was literally trying to destoy the opium trade, not take it over

they did a shitty job of it... but that's what they did.

[Dan]

93. I've never heard that the US was trying to destroy the opium trade,

I heard that it was a live and let live situation when it came to that trade.

But, I may be wrong.

[panader0]

7. Cheney wanted an oil pipeline through Afghanistan.

The US could have just sought out Bin Laden at Torah Bora and left. But the Bush
administration needed to occupy the country for Cheney's pipe-dream.
https://towardfreedom.org/story/archives/asia-archives/the-missing-link-to-the-war-in-afghanistan/

Which only begs more questions about 9/11.

[Cracklin Charlie]

14. It seems Afghanistan has been mostly a "highway" through history.

A way to get from one place to another. A place full of intrigue and danger.

[EX500rider]

51. Nonsense

Taking oil from where to where exactly?
The only big oil producer they border is Iran, I doubt the US wants to build them a pipeline.

[rampartc]

56. the pipeline was to be built by unocal (now chevron)

to take nat gas from the former ussr to india. the taliban could not guarantee the security of the pipeline so, in short order, they were removed and replaced with unocal executive karzoi.

there is also said to be a large amount of rare earth elements.

[EX500rider]

58. Right, the US attacked Afghanistan ...

So the Indians could have natural gas...lol...you do know that Pakistan is in the way right, wouldn't it just be easier to build a pipeline thru there?

[rampartc]

61. not my plan. talk to unocal inc.

might be why chevron was able to buy them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan_Oil_Pipeline

[EX500rider]

67. Why would the US govt give a crap where Unocal wants to build a pipeline?

Especially one outside the US that would not export to the US?
Also Dick Cheney worked for Halliburton, not Unocal.

[rampartc]

76. "the business of america is business" coolidge

corporate profits have been important since long begore there was a u s government.

out

[EX500rider]

83. So you think we invaded Afghanistan to build one pipeline

That goes to India... And then in 20 years didn't even build it.
Lol

[panader0]

57. Read the article and get back to me.

[EX500rider]

59. Yes a bunch of assertions with no evidence or footnotes, very compelling.

[EX500rider]

68. Dick Cheney didn't work for Unocal, he worked for Halliburton.

[BlueGreenLady]

13. If I recall, most wars in that area are over OIL..Access to oil in Iraq and Iran

The was was to gain access to oil fields in Iraq. It also made the Military Industrial Complex in the US to make Trillions of dollars over 20 years.
If anyone has a good book or resource to better answer this question, I would like to read it. Thanks

[EX500rider]

69. Except Afghanistan has no oil and it is easier to built pipelines thru other countries..

...then start a war and then pacify the country just so you can built a pipeline that doesn't even deliver oil to the US

[Hortensis]

84. The book should be about who CONTROLS the critical ME crossroads of the world,

including the route from Eurasia through Afghanistan to the India subcontinent, and involves many nations. That geopolitical struggle predates the need for oil by many centuries and continues today. Only later did that also affect who controls and/or gets access to ME petroleum.

I was just reading speculation that our withdrawal could lead to yet another of the series of proxy wars by various nations in Afghanistan, this time between nuclear powers India and Pakistan. Of course,the proxy warring between the U.S. and Russia continues, even if tRump handed victory in this era to Russia.

[EX500rider]

89. Afghanistan might have been a crossroads for the Spice roads 1,000 years ago

But for modern times Afghanistan has none of the infrastructure needed, no ports, no navigable rivers, no railroads, nada

[Hortensis]

90. True. And if there were no invasions of or proxy-warring,

and not always proxy, by distant world powers in Afghanistan, that might explain it.

Afghanistan might be kind of a Middle East version of the isolated and seldom mentioned DR Congo. Very unlike Afghanistan, the DRE was spared invasions and occupations by the British empire and the Cold War superpowers U.S. and Russia.

[EX500rider]

3. Yes we went to the poorest country in Asia to "steal their shit"...lol

So what riches did we take home in the 20 years exactly? A few goats maybe?

[tenderfoot]

4. We go to poor countries because they can't fight back

LULZ

[EX500rider]

70. After what happened to the Soviets when they invaded Afghanistan..

No one in the US govt or military would have thought the Afghans couldn't fight back.
Any other theories you want to try?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. Goats? More like Afghans.

Source: https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/afghan-hound/

100 percent adorable, but worth an invasion?

[Azathoth]

5. Yup, and the vaccines are a plot by Bill Gates, pure and simple

Don't bother me with contrary facts.

[Sneederbunk]

8. Was the swag worth $2 trillion+ cost?

[tenderfoot]

11. It certainly was for war contractors and Dick Cheney

[mahatmakanejeeves]

15. Alex Jones covered this thoroughly back in 2001.

Seriously, you're in Alex Jones territory.

[tenderfoot]

18. Oh okay

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-mining/afghanistan-signs-major-mining-deals-in-development-push-idUSKCN1MH0FM

[Ohio Joe]

45. Except that nothing seems to have been done...

Signing a contract means little if you never get to do anything with it and it does not appear they ever have. According to your article from 2018:

"Poor security, rampant corruption and a lack of roads, power and other infrastructure, have hampered development of Afghanistan’s mining sector. The few major deals which have been signed, including the vast Mes Aynak copper project signed with China’s state-run China Metallurgical Group Corp, have so far remained largely inactive."

And that is a contract that in 2018 had been signed for years. The one the article talks about is for areas called Badakhshan and Sar-e Pul, both of which are completely in Taliban hands... Not likely anything will happen.

[intelpug]

73. nothing seems to have been done

Your right on there, For my two cents worth I actually work underground myself. The company I work for owned a promising claim several years ago in south America but sold it because the cost to develop it was too high. The sight had good mineral deposits but power was almost exactly 100 miles away over mountainous country with damn few actual roads in the area. Among other things the government down there stipulated that any power line built must also feed any and all villages,settlements, etc,along it's route at the company's expense making this a losing deal. In 2015 my employer grossed about one billion dollars,,, their expenses? ,, Right at 900 million for the year. Keep in mind this other property was in a stable area, not a war torn geopolitical hotbed where it would be private investment money at risk, the US government would never directly fund such projects and as anyone who has worked around mines can tell you, do they turn over a lot of money? absolutely., but they can also tell you what ABSOLUTE UNIMAGINABLE black holes for money to disappear into they are to keep afloat as well.

[JoanofArgh]

79. Informative post . Thank you!

[NameAlreadyTaken]

12. And all I got was this lousy afghan.

[tenderfoot]

17. All their shit...

According to a joint study by The Pentagon and the United States Geological Survey, Afghanistan has an estimated US$1 trillion of untapped minerals. There are six lapis mines in Afghanistan, the largest being located in Badakhshan province. ... The first Afghan oil production began in late 2012.

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html

[mahatmakanejeeves]

19. And just why are they untapped?

Also, what are we supposed to do with lapis?

[tenderfoot]

20. I'm guessing we were there to find out and get going on it.

Why else would we invest so much to be there to begin with?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

22. Not everything is a conspiracy. NT

[SidDithers]

39. +1...nt

Sid

[mahatmakanejeeves]

41. Your eck-chay is in the ail-may. NT

[panader0]

62. Rare earth: (not the band)

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/rare-earth-afghanistan-sits-1-trillion-minerals-n196861

[Voltaire2]

21. Nope. We viewed Afghanistan as a strategic

base to contain Iran and Russia.

[elleng]

27. Sounds more like it than others.

[Voltaire2]

29. Also there was the bonus of sticking it

to the Russians who notoriously failed in their Afghan adventure. That bit didn’t work so well.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

32. Charlie Wilson's War

Okay, it's a movie, but the plot didn't come out of thin air.

Charlie Wilson's War (film)

The Russians paid a big price for their Afghanistan adventure.

Salang Tunnel fire

The Salang Tunnel fire occurred on 3 November 1982 in Afghanistan's Salang Tunnel during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Details are uncertain and officially the number of casualties was recorded as between 168–176 Soviet and Afghan soldiers and civilians. Despite this, contemporary Western media claimed the incident may have been the deadliest known road accident, and one of the deadliest fires of modern times, with the death toll estimated at 2,700 to 3,000 people.

{snip}

[elleng]

34. Gotta watch it again.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

40. Once upon a time, it was a great idea to supply the rebel forces with RPGs so that they could

blast helicopters out of the sky.

And then it wasn't.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

47. The enemy of my enemy is my friend...

...until you abandon them.

[MoonlitKnight]

43. This was the neocon strategy

Surround Iran to pressure and possibly invade. The Saudis benefit the most in that scenario.

It ended up being a complete disaster that strengthened Pakistan while Iraq invasion strengthened Iran. Now it’s just a big mess.

Well past time to leave. Unfortunately it’s under the crappy peace deal Trump “negotiated “ that basically told the Taliban “don’t shoot at us and we will leave”.

[leftstreet]

24. Why don't you care about the rights of defense contractors?

$1 trillion over 20 years to protect a global drug trade

sounds about right

[SWBTATTReg]

26. Yes, to steal from Uncle Sam, no less. Bill the US government at an obscene rate, $6,000 for a ...

hammer, pay my contractor army (each member) a $1000 a day (or more), pay all of my grossly marked up inventory (guns, bullets, food, etc.) at 10 times the normal, going rate. In short, it's stick it to Uncle Sam...Isn't that what Prince (a military contractor) did?
--snip--
Erik Prince and his U.A.E. private military firm helped recruit and train over 1,000 soldiers from Latin American countries. Then, their bodies started appearing on battlefields in Yemen.

etc. (tons of stories out there about this guy...

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

30. This 👆

[Earth-shine]

38. I agree. It was more about paying contractors than stealing minerals. nt

[GoCubsGo]

50. Exactly right.

Not just Eric Prince, either. Dick Cheney's old company, Halliburton, profited mightily, as well. I'm sure there were others, on top of that.

[Mosby]

28. Bullshit.

[sarisataka]

31. Well then the US is

a piss-poor thief. Spend 2 and a half trillion to steal a trillion worth of resources then forget to actually steal them.

[larwdem]

33. no

but that is why we went to IRAQ FOR OIL,

[SidDithers]

36. What shit is there to steal in Afghanistan?...nt

Sid

[littlemissmartypants]

87. Plenty. The Taliban have used illegally mined precious metals

And minerals to fund their activities for many years. Afghanistan is loaded with those resources.

[DetlefK]

42. Bullshit with a long uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_in_Afghanistan

According to a joint study by The Pentagon and the United States Geological Survey, Afghanistan has an estimated US$1 trillion[5] of untapped minerals.

Untapped. That means, the US would first have to find the minerals, then set up mines, then get the minerals from the mines to some railway-logistics-center, then get the minerals to some seaport in either Pakistan or Iran.



And, no offense but, nobody in their right mind thinks that the US would attack Iran. Attacking Iran would make the invasion of Iraq look like a cake-walk, because Iran is bigger, has more population, has a better economy, a better military, more foreign allies, and so much money that they can afford to fund the Hezbollah-militias in Lebanon. It would be a quagmire bigger than Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam combined.
Plus, even though the country is currently culturally divided between the religiously conservative older generation and a liberal youth, attacking Iran would unite the population of Iran against a common enemy.

Seriously, what kind of drugs did you do to actually type that the US would attack China? Because China is a the biggest economic power-house of planet Earth and could ruin the US-economy with the snap of a finger by demanding that the US pay out the US-loans that China has bought. And if the US were to refuse to do that, nobody would ever fucking again buy US credits. Goodbye US-economy, hello inflation.
Oh, and did you know that China has good diplomatic relationships with Africa? If the US attacks China, it can kiss the whole continent of Africa goodbye, in a geopolitical sense. (Russian propaganda has already started spreading anti-american talking-points in Africa. The russian media has framed the western criticism of alternative cures for COVID as a racist attack on the traditional medicines of Africa.)

And please explain why the US would attack Pakistan? Sure, rogue elements in their intelligence-community protected Osama Bin Laden, but they are one of the few islamic intelligence-services that provides the US with any information on islamic terrorists at all.
Plus, they have nukes.
Plus, Pakistan is an enemy of India, which is in a Cold War with China for dominance on the asian continent. Attacking Pakistan would be seen as an attack on the geopolitical interests of China.

[UnderThisLaw]

54. Nice rant

Now re-read the OP and tell me if the remark about Iran, Pakistan and China is better interpreted as a comment on any intervention they may try in Afghanistan rather one regarding any action the US might take against them

[DetlefK]

75. The headline is irrational and over-the-top, so I decided to interpret the rest of the OP likewise.

If an author wants me to read their statement as nuanced and ambiguous, the shouldn't start with an angry emotional tirade.

[Dan]

95. Slightly off topic, but I like your thinking.

[AkFemDem]

46. Yes, I bet next we will...

Spend $2 trillion to invade Haiti to steal their equally vast cache of riches…

[GoCubsGo]

48. Nope, as with Iraq, they went in to steal OUR shit.

They were just excuses to funnel more of our tax dollars into the Military Industrial Complex and private contractors. Billions of tax dollars were funneled into the likes of Dick Cheney's Halliburton, Eric Prince's Blackwater, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon... Lots of Congresspeople with investments in these companies, as well. Not all of them are Republicans, either. They all love the campaign donations from these companies, too. Like General Smedley Butler said, war is a racket.

I agree whole-heartedly with you about sparing us from the bullshit. What about the rights of women and Democracy here? Both are being gutted by some of the very people who oppose our withdrawal (McConnell, Graham, etc.) And, if we couldn't fix things over TWENTY GODDAMN YEARS, we'll never fix them.

[NCjack]

64. The Chinese positioned themselves for a friendly move after we got tired of bleeding.

“Afghanistan has vast mineral deposits, including coal, copper and iron ore, talc, lithium and uranium, as well as gold, precious stones, oil and gas. Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the sector has been seen as the potential backbone of a post-war economy—and still is. But few major miners will risk venturing into the war-ravaged country—and China’s decision to discontinue work at Mes Aynak is indicative of even Beijing’s disinclination to operate in the face of insurgent threats ..."

[link:http:/foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/27/afghanistan-china-spy-ring-mcc-mining-negotiations-mineral-wealth|]

[RicROC]

65. we went to Iraq to steal their s***, not

quite sure why we were in Afghanistan after Bin Laden was Epsteined.

[EX500rider]

71. And what exactly did we "steal" from Iraq? nt

[RicROC]

91. we went to steal their oil...

but we never got it.

[EX500rider]

94. Probably because we didn't go there to steal the oil

Or did we just forget? Lol

[CrackityJones75]

72. Lots of guesses and fighting in this thread

Lots of guesses and fighting in this thread. One thing I know we for sure as shit weren’t there for anything related to 9/11.

[JI7]

74. There is nothing worth stealing there

I don't know why people always need a conspiracy theory .

[David__77]

77. Haha the responses to this are hilarious!

…

[The Revolution]

78. Horse shit

Of course we went into Afghanistan because of 9/11. I agree it wasn't about women's rights or anything like that because that was a problem before 9/11 and no one gave a shit. But to say it had nothing to do with 9/11 is nonsense.

We know for a fact the neocons were looking for an excuse to attack Iraq, and wanted to use 9/11 to do so. They weren't that interested in Afghanistan at all but essentially had no choice. They had to go into Afghanistan first while they worked on trying to tie Iraq to 9/11 as well and cook up a pack of lies about WMDs.

Bush and the neocons completely dropped the ball in Afghanistan to go after their real target.

[betsuni]

81. It was the Project for the New American Century.

Cheney/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz and other neocons in the Bush administration saw 9/11 as the perfect opportunity to put into motion the big plan for the U.S. taking over influence in the Middle East. Afghanistan first because supposedly going after Osama bin Laden was a convenient excuse to get the war ball rolling, next Iraq, then Iran. That's what I remember. Looked good on paper to the neocons.

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=128491&page=1

[Dan]

96. I had forgotten about "The New American Century", been awhile since I heard that...

Or remember reading part of it back in the day.

[DenaliDemocrat]

85. What the hell are you talking about?

The Soviets destroyed everything in Afghanistan. There was nothing left to steal.

[littlemissmartypants]

88. Not true. nt

[EX500rider]

97. So what did we steal in the 20 years we were there?

Or were we just waiting till the time was right and nobody was looking LOL

[Piratedog]

86. I disagree