Originally Posted by
fitliker
If you look at the old maps of the Afghani Empire in the 12th century . The maps are almost identical to where their present supporters reside .
What is old is new again . As for the eighteenth century point of view about Afghanistan being the grave of Empires , it might seem one of those graves was the old Afghani Empire .
I am starting to think that Kabul is a clever ambush being set up by those military geniuses who wear a lot of brass and sit on PhDs in modern warfare . As they say in Fort Benning if your attack is going well , it is probably an ambush
Kabul will not be as important as the fight for the water of the Indus River.
Afghanistan has always been pretty much the same size as you point out. The surrounding "empires" (Russia, Persia, Arab, China, Sikh, British etc) have always tried to chip bits off or take it over but really have never succeeded.
Lots of money, liberally and regularly dispersed to the various tribal entities, seems the best way of keeping some sort of peace & quiet ( a very relative term in those parts)