The democratic occupation of Afghanistan
http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/SOU-01-221113.html
The democratic occupation of Afghanistan
By Khalid Sekander
Nov 22, '13
~snip~
Afghanistan serves as a convenient battleground of the war on terror for a variety of reasons. Firstly, Afghanistan has been in a state of conflict since 1979. Two, the terrorists are already there and ready to fight, with many more pouring into Afghanistan from terrorist training camps in Pakistan.
Thirdly, the US can rely on Pakistan, a member of the British Commonwealth, as it did during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, to facilitate the movement of terrorists into Afghanistan to face the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) guns lurking in wait within Afghan villages.
Fourthly, Afghanistan lacks anything of value, like infrastructure, and so bombing it into the Stone Age will make no major difference to the already bombed out scenery. Poor Afghans are most expendable as collateral damage in the war on terror, when revenge is on the minds of American troops and Afghanistan is from where the attacks on the US emanated.
Finally, from the perception of global jihadists, Afghanistan epitomizes the land of traditional jihad, the place where godless superpowers are buried in the "graveyard of empires".