Some amazingly ignorant statements made so far:

1: The purpose NATO fulfills in Afghanistan is to provide command & control for the UN mandated ISAF contingents operating in the country in support of UNAMA.

2: The mission statement for ISAF from day one (December 5th 2001) was as follows:

ANNEX I (To the Bonn Agreement)

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY FORCE


1. The participants in the UN Talks on Afghanistan recognize that the responsibility for providing security and law and order throughout the country resides with the Afghans themselves. To this end, they pledge their commitment to do all within their means and influence to ensure such security, including for all United Nations and other personnel of international governmental and non-governmental organizations deployed in Afghanistan.

2. With this objective in mind, the participants request the assistance of the international community in helping the new Afghan authorities in the establishment and training of new Afghan security and armed forces.

3. Conscious that some time may be required for the new Afghan security and armed forces to be fully constituted and functioning, the participants in the UN Talks on Afghanistan request the United Nations Security Council to consider authorizing the early deployment to Afghanistan of a United Nations mandated force. This force will assist in the maintenance of security for Kabul and its surrounding areas. Such a force could, as appropriate, be progressively expanded to other urban centres and other areas.

4. The participants in the UN Talks on Afghanistan pledge to withdraw all military units from Kabul and other urban centers or other areas in which the UN mandated force is deployed. It would also be desirable if such a force were to assist in the rehabilitation of Afghanistan's infrastructure.

For ISAF that devolved into two clear tasks:

TASK 1 - Provision of Provincial Reconstruction Teams throughout Afghanistan to assist in the reconstruction of the country. Such reconstruction work to be funded by internation aid and handed over to Afghan contractors and civil authorities and administrators.

This task is well under way and more and more reconstruction projects are now not only being carried out by Afghan civilians but are also being funded by them.

TASK 2 - Assist in creating, training, equipping and mentoring "national" security forces capable of enforcing the rule of law and order throughout the country and capable of defending the recognised borders of the country from external attack and infiltration by terrorist groups.

This task is approximately 85 to 90% completed.

Since the intervention of the International Community in Afghanistan the average yearly death toll amongst Afghan civilians suffering violent and unexpected death due to civil unrest has dropped from 108,696 (Between April 1978 and October 2001) to 2,133 (October 2001 to present). US-OEF/ISAF/ANSF are the first armed forces to operate within the borders of Afghanistan since April 1978 whose main duty and charge has been the protection of the general population. 80% of all civilians suffering unexpected violent deaths inside Afghanistan today are killed by the Taliban and their allies.

In the period 2006 (when ISAF took over) to 2011 the average population of Afghanistan was around 30 million people of whom, on average ~581,900 die each year from all causes. The yearly average number of deaths caused by the Taliban insurrection (and remember it was the Taliban from across the border in Pakistan who declared war on the reconstruction effort in 2006) is 2,133 - or just over one-third of one percent of the average total death toll from all causes (hardly a picture of a land ablaze from end to end)

UNOCAL went out of business years ago.

President Hamid Karzai never worked for any Oil Company (Only one French Newspaper "Le Figaro" ever suggested that he did - the paper offered no evidence to support this claim and has never since repeated it.)

TAPI - the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India Pipeline Project is a dead duck. Politicians in all three countries the pipeline passes through chatter about it, but it is going nowhere, it has largely been by-passed by Turkemistan's gas deals with the Chinese and Iranians and by Pakistan agreeing to purchase gas from Iran. China has signed an agreement to develop oil fields in Afghanistan. None of the above is of any financial benefit to the US at all - so much for the much toted, and oft quoted, "oil motive".

As for "Karzai being Bush's pick foisted on the Afghans" even the most cursory examination of the records shows that that is simply untrue - First mentioned in the Bonn Agreement 5th December 2001 the meetings that led to that agreement were held between Afghan leaders and a representative of the United Nations - that man has just taken over from Kofi Annan in Syria, his name is Lakhdar Brahimi (Hardly an American puppet). Hamid Karzai was proposed in Bonn subject to acceptance by a Loya Jirga of all Afghan tribal leaders to be held in Kabul by June 2002 - The USA were not represented in that Loya Jirga and Hamd Karzai was accepted as head of the Afghan Interim Administration. Subsequently he stood for election on two occasions, he has already stated that in accordance with Afghanistan's Constitution he cannot stand for re-election (Two terms is the maximum) His second term ends in the summer before the ISAF hand over to ANSF in December 2014.

A great deal has been said about US and NATO leaving. This has been due to gross misreporting by "western" MSM of what has actually been said. What happens in December 2014 is that frontline responsibility for providing security throughout Afghanistan devolves to the ANSF (They already ARE responsible for about 75% of the population and 50% of the country). Once this milestone has been reached ISAF troops will withdraw from combat operations, support and training missions however will continue.

British General Sir David Richards predicted in 2006 or 2007 that in his opinion ISAF would be military engaged in Afghanistan for a period of between 5 and 10 years - ISAF took over from US-OEF throughout Afghanistan in 2006 (makes Richard's target end dates somewhere between 2011 & 2016). He predicted that ISAF would continue to mentor and train the ANSF for a period of between 10 and 15 years to get them to a stage where they could train their own troops, NCO's, Specialists and Officers themselves (makes his target end dates between 2016 and 2021) by which time ALL ISAF troops would leave Afghanistan (The US have signed agreements with the Afghan Government involving 20,000 troops covering until 2024). He predicted that the International Community would be involved in the development of Afghanistan in terms of trade and aid for a minimum of 30 years (makes his target end date 2036). So far it looks as though General Sir David Richards pedictions have proved pretty much on the money.

Why on earth would anyone have to, or want to "invade" Iran?? Totally ludicrous.