Crossroad of Empires -- A Commentary

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates talks to soldiers deployed to Field Operating Base Airborne in the Wardak Province, Afghanistan, after re-enlisting eight soldiers, May 8, 2009. Gates visited Afghanistan and met with military and local leaders. DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jerry Morrison

From National Review:

Why Afghanistan is so often at the center of history.

When American B-52s went into action on either side of the Hindu Kush in the fall of 2001, the military history of Afghanistan came full-circle. The country that for centuries had stood at the crossroads of the great civilizations of the Old World was suddenly assailed by the young superpower of the New. This time it was not the centrality of Afghanistan but its very isolation from the rest of the globe that incurred the wrath of foreign arms. Once a coveted prize of empires and a source of indigenous warrior kingdoms, the southern Asian country had devolved through the modern era to the status of a buffer state, then a Cold War battlefield, and finally to a mere hideout — con­veniently pocked with caves offering refuge to international terrorists. Yet in the 21st century A.D., no less than in the 5th century B.C., Afghanistan found itself once again enmeshed in combat with the world’s strongest military power. Given Afghanistan’s long, varied his­tory of conflict, this latest development has not been a surprise.

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