Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
Afghanistan holds little strategic value for us - Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, Kuwait, the UAE, Turkey, Oman, and Iraq, on the other hand, do.
We retain sizeable forces in Germany, Japan, and the ROK over a half-Century after the initial reasons for our deploying there because it remains of mutual strategic importance for us and our allies to do so.
If it is truly of strategic importance to us, we will seek to retain a viable presence in Iraq for as long as necessary, too.
Richard's $.02  |
And let us not forget to throw Iran and Pakistan into the mix with the People's Republic of China vying to get influence in the Middle East as they drive in there quest for natural resources. While Saudi Arabia is an example of progress, albeit grinding ever so slowly, it goes without saying that the region will continue to be volatile for some time to come. Africa is another region that the Chinese are vying for influenece and isn't too far behind the Middle East in regards to instability and volatility. As in Asia and Europe, we will have forces in the CENTCOM and AFRICOM regions for quite along time.