Bazz saw that MAGGOT get released hope [rumor says] he is on his way back after other charges, others should follow
It is about oil however, wish we could find another power source fast
Oil cash is used by some very low life countrys there to push their faith and culture
Leave remains my view
Let them kill each other let Russia have it
Saudi Arabia is as bad if not worse than Iran

A thousand times more than needs to be said about that part of the World, has already been said ! These people can't be helped because for some strange reason peace seems as unacceptable to them as reason !

Afghanistan has nothing, ABSOLUTELY nothing , to do with oil. There's no oil there and even if there was, the US is now an oil exporter, is completely self-sufficient in oil and has no need for any Middle-Eastern oil.

Afghanistan is all about trying to ensure that it doesn't revert to being a haven for international terrorists.

But the plan to make it a civil society has utterly failed, so it should be abandoned. Not a single western life should be wasted on the project.

Instead, leave and leave them to their own devices. If they then do revert to being a haven for international terrorists, go in, bomb them back to the stone age and leave them again. Treat it like a vaccine boost that you have to do every 20 years or so.

Leaving Afghanistan wouldn't leave it to the Russian. They had more than their fill in the 1980's. It was one of the main reasons the USSR fell. They don't want anything to do with the place.
And even if they did go back, who cares

Mhaze, the US is not really an oil exporter although many Americans
think they are. The do export some light oil as they have more of that
than they can use, but they have to import heavy oils to make their
light oils usable. Other countries, eg Venezuela have only heavy oil
and have to buy light oil to mix in to be able to refine it into petrol.
Because of the various grades of fuels needed for different purposes
it is all very complex, for diesel, the new ships bunker fuels
required from the 1st January, plastics manufacturing etc etc.

No one is an exclusive importer or exporter.

Bazz,

The US is now the largest oil producer in the world. Additionally, as of last month, they are a net exporter of oil ie they export more than they import. And the level of exports continues to grow. (Whatever happened to peak oil?).

While it is true that they still need to import certain grades of oil, this is done for economic reasons ie they could produce those grades but its cheaper to import it, at least at the moment.

But the main point here is that the US is now completely independent of the M-East oil countries and/or OPEC. In the past, the US was concerned to ensure the Straits of Hormuz were kept open. Now they don't care but could easily close the Straits if they needed to bring China into line.

At the end of all that, Afghanistan holds zero economic interest for the US. And even less for Australia.

It seems that Trump will announce a significant reduction in troop numbers there in the next few weeks. If ScoMo doesn't want to look like he's just tagging along, he should get ahead of that announcement.

Mhze said; (Whatever happened to peak oil?)
Actually it occurred in December 2005. After the falling production
and price rise to 2008 crashed the economy an old technique of
fracking was resurrected and applied successfully.
However that is in trouble now with falling profits and well counts.

I agree that the sooner out of those benighted countries the better for us all.
We do need to stop them following the troops though and bringing all
thos historical problems with them.
The US, Iran, the Russians and the Saudies do not control the Hormuz
Straits, that privilege belongs to the Insurance companies.
They shut and open it by sending emails.