The US and UK have important plans for Afghanistan, which involve isolating Iran and bypassing Russia to run an oil pipeline right through Afghanistan, meaning we could bring out Central Asian oil more easily and cheaply down through the Pakistan coast.
Afghanistan is sitting on one of the world's biggest lithium deposits,worth $1 trillion.
Lithium is used in everything from batteries and electronic components, to nuclear fusion processes, to alloys and military applications.
The West absolutely cannot afford to have control of the resource fall into the wrong hands.
...and let's not even mention the protection of the poppy fields...which are cultivated for opium production.