Access to the oil plays a role in the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan. But there are additional strategic reasons for the U.S. wanting to control that part of the world.\u00a0 A recent interview with long time anti-war activist Rick Rozoff <\/a>offers a compelling argument that the U.S. intends a permanent military occupation of Afghanistan. You can read the entire interview at Dandelionsalad.<\/a><\/p>\n Why is the US in Afghanistan?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ll give you my personal estimate and I think it\u2019s the one that became apparent with the initial thrust into Afghanistan almost ten years ago, which occurred less than three months after the founding of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the summer of 2001. My supposition is \u2013 not withstanding the hunt for Osama bin Laden and whatever else was presented as the casus belli for the invasion of Afghanistan and its continuation for ten years \u2013 that, in essence, the US and its Western allies wanted to plant themselves firmly at the point of confluence where Russia, China, Iran, India, Pakistan and other nations might be able to cooperate in building a multipolar alternative to the US-dominated unipolar world by being in Afghanistan and its environs. . . .<\/p>\n How would you characterize the entire campaign by NATO and the US in Afghanistan? As a complete failure, or were there any gains?<\/strong><\/p>\n