[advrs]

Afghanistan is strategically located at a major crossroads between Central and East Asia. This is useful for trade and military operations.

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan_Oil_Pipeline

[lostlogin]

> This is useful for trade and military operations.

This has been an unfortunate truth for the US and USSR before it (and other empires before that). For a depressing insight into how little we have learned, Boys in Zinc by Svetlana Alexievich is a good read.