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Politics : BuSab -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jorj X Mckie who wrote (1280)	9/3/2009 10:31:07 PM
From: SmoothSail	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23934

Ok let's talk about Afghanistan, but first a few things to consider: From Wiki: Location: It is variously designated as geographically located within Central Asia,[6][7] South Asia,[8][9] or the Middle East.[10] It is bordered by Iran in the south and west, Pakistan in the south and east, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast. Afghanistan is a crossroads between the East and the West, and was an ancient focal point of the Silk Road and migration. It has an important geostrategic location, connecting South and Central Asia and Middle East. Because of this, the land has been a target of various invaders and conquerors, as well as a source from which local powers invaded surrounding regions to form their own empires. Size: Slightly small than Texas Population: 40.9% Pashtun 37.1% Tajik 9.2% Hazara 9.2% Uzbek 1.7% Turkmen 0.5% Baloch 0.1% Aimak 1.3% other Languages: The most common languages spoken in Afghanistan are Eastern Persian (also known as Dari; roughly 50%) and Pashto (roughly 35%). Both are Indo-European languages from the Iranian languages sub-family, and the official languages of the country. Hazaragi, spoken by the Hazara minority, is a distinct dialect of Persian. Other languages spoken include the Turkic languages Uzbek and Turkmen (ca. 9% combined), as well as 30 minor languages, primarily Balochi, Nuristani, Pashai, Brahui, Pamiri languages, Hindko, etc. (ca. 4% combined). Bilingualism is common. Religiously, Afghans are over 99% Muslims: approximately 74–80% Sunni and 19–25% Shi'a[1][75][76] (estimates vary). Up until the mid-1980s, there were about 30,000 to 150,000 Hindus and Sikhs living in different cities, mostly in Jalalabad, Kabul, and Kandahar.[77][78] There was a small Jewish community in Afghanistan (see Bukharan Jews) who fled the country after the 1979 Soviet invasion, and only one individual, Zablon Simintov, remains today.[79] Economy: It is an impoverished country, one of the world's poorest and least developed. Two-thirds of the population lives on fewer than 2 US dollars a day. So, what have you? Ancient tribes of Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks who have been fighting each other for centuries, who speak a variety of languages and dialects, who are all dirt poor and jockeying for position and control of the poppy fields and trade routes. OBL is very rich and can pay an army of any one of those tribes enough to keep them out of the unemployment lines to protect him. They've tried to take care of things themselves and come up with brilliant ideas like the Taliban. It's a strategically located place - next to Iran and Pakistan. Guess it's important for us to have a foothold in the region. Has Obummer given a reason for why we're there?