The real reason why we're still in Afghanistan...

and never will leave completely unless we undergo a paradigm shift in economics.

https://campbellmgold.co.uk/archive_blowing_in_the_wind/afghanistan_mineral_riches.pdf  [Article by James Risen.]

Almost fifteen years ago, the USGS and the Pentagon discovered the probability is extremely high that Afghanistan is awash in mineral riches totaling about one trillion dollars.  Not only common minerals such as iron and copper are buried there, but those crucial to modern day industry (e.g., lithium) as well.

The world is at a point where mineral resources - especially rare earth minerals - are more and more difficult to access.  Afghanistan has never been mined to any significant degree.  Done in 2007, the USGS used highly sophisticated aerial survey equipment in a study which shows the country is ripe for extremely productive mining.

World leaders who are not pursuing sustainability are prone to believe that when it comes to critical natural resources, it's a "dog-eat-dog" world.  Sometimes such thinking results in long-term planning involving resource wars, or financial wars, or best case - diplomacy.  For decades, we've had all the above on planet Earth.

One way or another, the richer countries are going to get access to needed natural resources.  That's especially true when the country is on an unsustainable path, which currently is the case in the USA and many other well-off nations.

Sustainability is one of the keys to a peaceful future.  Ecological economics is the best path forward.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well