That looks like Steve Hawley all the way over on the right, dwarfing the horse he rode into town on. ;-)

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

Can someone explain to me why we are still in Afghanistan after 16 years. My nephew is a captain in SF and leads a 12 man team and he is getting deployed for the 6th time to Afghanistan. I've never asked him, thinking it would be inappropriate, so I'll put it out to the collective wisdom of ST.

Strategically, I can see why. Afghanistan abuts Iran in the west, Pakistan in the southeast and the various ex-Soviet republic "-stans" (Turkmenistan, Tajikstan) in the north, and so forth. It's a crossroads of radical Islamic activity. Besides all that, we're so deep into the place now we almost can't afford to leave.

Iraq, on the other hand... who knows why we went in and have stayed in, more or less, since 2003? ISIS taking the place over was one reason, I guess.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

What is old is new again. LdSH(RC)

Another thing to consider is that it's a great way for the armed forces (especially the Army and the Marine Corps) to get junior officers, which an Army CPT is, the kind of experience that can make them more effective field grade and general officers down the line. It's like "blooding" them. Which it often literally is, unfortunately. It sounds kind of cynical but how do you get your JOs actual combat experience? So Afghanistan serves that purpose as well, especially for Army SOF and Marine Corps special operations and Navy special warfare officers.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

Oh, I agree about the funding thing, believe me. Afghanistan presents the perfect opportunity to make a play for such appropriations, for sure.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

Unfortunately, looking at all his ribbons, I think you are correct on "blooding" them. He opted to go to West Point over several Ivy league schools and then he chose the combat path, which led to Airborne, Ranger, then SFs. Either way, I worry for him and wonder what being in a combat zone multiple times does to psychologically. It can't be good.

My first job out of college was working for a construction company at Boeing's military plant in Wichita, KS.

Towards the end of the year, they would pay us time and materials to provide x number of guys to hand sweep the multi-acre plant.
They would have us pour sidewalks only to tear them out and re-pour them.

It was explained to me that these things occurred because Boeing did not spend all of their military funding and if they didn't spend it, funding would be reduced the following year.

I love the efficiencies of our government.

One of my Navy officer tours was as the supply officer/department head of the medical supply department at the Naval Hospital in Groton, CT (New London). That "burn the money, don't turn it back in" thing was standard operating procedure, believe me. One year, on September 3rd or 4th, I got a $4 million supplement appropriation dropped on me from our higher headquarters (BUMED) and had to have it spent by close of business on September 30th. I put every purchasing clerk I had on overtime, plus kept my military folks on the clock and we busted rear end to get it all spent, and not on "must have" stuff, either. Mostly, it was "wish list" purchases for the hospital and all its clinics. If I hadn't "obligated" at least 99% of that money by the end of the fiscal year, my annual report of officer fitness (FITREP) would have gotten dinged. And our next-fiscal-year supply budget would have probably taken a hit by the amount of money I failed to obligate. It's crazy.

The only military outfit I ever saw turn money back in at the end of the FY -- and proudly so -- was the Marine Corps. During my enlisted days I was serving in one Marine Corps unit where the skipper and his XO kept tabs on the money being spent and kept cutting the operating target funds dedicated to what they called "non-essentials" (anything NOT for medical supplies, ammo, or field rations, basically ;-). They turned the resulting savings back in at the end of the FY so that it, hopefully, could be "reprogrammed" for other Marine Corps units.

I’ve heard pipeline and I’ve heard lithium / minerals on top of the others mentioned above.

There are many reasons depending on who you ask, Anti Terrorist, Political stability, and even global commerce. Recently watched "Fighting Season" on NetFlix and in the final episode in mentioned that many of the worlds largest banks have purchased the land rights for huge mining resources (don't remember what the element is), however those companies can't operate with ongoing civil wars.
To contrast there are other countries in Africa having political unrest, lack of government yet the US isn't there. Follow the money, you'll find a reason.

I’ve wondered this myself