2012-01-05 (China Military News cited from csmonitor.com and by Alexander Benard) — As 2011 drew to a close, so did US military involvement in Iraq. Amid domestic pressure, Iraqi opposition to an American military presence, and a breakdown in negotiations between the US and Iraqi governments, the Obama administration withdrew all of its military forces from Iraq, and will soon face a similar decision in Afghanistan.
Though Afghanistan has requested a long-term security commitment, President Obama will likely encounter opposition from his political base as well as thorny issues like how to handle night raids and Afghan prisoners held by US troops. But as his administration continues its negotiations with the Afghan government, it must recognize that a total withdrawal would have effects beyond Afghanistan’s borders. Simply put, it would devastate US interests – both geopolitical and commercial – throughout Central Asia.
Chinese Armed Policemen in Afghanistan
Yet most of Central Asia has very little US presence. Few US companies operate in the region, largely because the Russian and Chinese governments successfully use threats – both explicit and implicit – to prevent Central Asian republics from opening their doors to Western firms.
In the Middle East, the US has troops and security relationships with a variety of countries (Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates, among others) and can thus absorb the Iraq pullout without sustaining too much of a strategic blow to our regional interests. In Central Asia, however, America’s footprint is very light. It no longer has an air base in Uzbekistan and has only a few hundred troops at an air base Kyrgyzstan.
That leaves Afghanistan as America’s only beachhead – and a willing participant at that – altering the power dynamics in the region. The US certainly derives valuable intelligence and counter-terrorism benefits from having troops stationed in a country that borders Iran, Pakistan, and China. Even more important, however, a US presence in Afghanistan signals that the US is serious about Central Asia and that it will be a player there for the foreseeable future.
Having an American presence in Afghanistan breaks the China-Russia duopoly by providing an alternative power broker for the region. It thereby emboldens other countries in the area, giving them the confidence they need to stand up to their neighborhood bullies. An ongoing presence of around 20,000 to 30,000 US troops – similar in size to the number of troops in South Korea or in Japan – would be sufficient to accomplish these goals.
“…stand up to their neighborhood bullies” ?? The Americans sail across the Pacific to bully other countries. And so who is the bully? The problem with the Americans is they don’t know when to stop.
Hilarious article, more like USA military in Afghanistan, sitting duck for Chinese, Iranian, and Russian missiles and destabilization. How is USA going to counter China with a military presence in Afghanistan, is China actually going to few threaten and scared by it when they could spend far less and be more politically cost effective fighting a new abroad war then the Americans can handle? Once china whip America in the Pacific which they will have inherent advantage due to geographical and logistical proximity, America will be laid bare as the overextended imperialist monkeys that they are, even the possibility of Iran shutting down the strait of Hormuz is giving their economy fits, and with the economy goes the military, China should definitely invest more in the stability of Afghanistan, and allow America a face saving exit from that country like they did in Iraq.
U.S. military: the busiest job on Earth: little time ago was counting Afghanistan, and Iraq. Seems that now it starting to have some trouble with Pakistan and Iran and is already worried to counter China? Wow!