On Twitter I asked a question out of frustration about Afghanistan. 

2 hours ago: "Does anyone have even a theory why we're still in Afghanistan? Even a paranoid one?" 

Apparently people in my circle have been thinking about this! 

silencematters: "The oil and gas pipelineand mineral deposits."  

joemoreno: "In theory, you don't want a failed state that's a safe haven for unlawful activity. But, who signs the peace treaty?" 

scootinater: "it's all about the poppy's!" 

mrDarcyMurphy: "Too lazy to get out?" 

anildash: "Maybe everyone is ready to leave, but the security line is just really slow?" 

redeye: "Lithium." 

tolles: "politicians are seldomly rewarded for losing a war." 

arjunram: "cuz u continue to fund pakistan and by it the ISI." 

mattburrows: "oil." 

BF191: "Obama decided to buy his own Buick (Afghanistan) and rejected Bush's Caddy as no good (Iraq) gotta show cars are good." 

AdamBagwell: "didn't some geological survey find that Afghanistan is sitting on insane amounts of precious metals?" 

dkato: "keep unemployment numbers as low as possible? Skyrocket when vets and stop-lossed come home." 

SimonZerafa: "There after that huge Lithium deposit they discovered recently; easier and quicker to extract and will make money " 

Soulati: "If we leave Afghanistan, the Taliban is poised right now to zoom in and undo everything. It's a can't win, don't you think?" 

Alt_010: "Something to do with Anchor Baby's I think." 

mcarvin: "if there were no bad guys in Afg., the Military-Industrial Complex 2.0 loses a large part of it's raison d'etre." 

Jason: "my guess is we are secretly deep into Pakistan (with their permission) and we need Afg. as cover for those operations." 

kidmercury: "profit for war biz; profit for CIA drug running (check afghan heroin production); part of NWO agenda (world govt)" 

justinlfowler: "Minerals." 

null_ptr: "The bad guys (Taliban) are there. Left Iraq and went there/Pakistan." 

matthovey: "re-read the Plan for a New American Century, Dave." 

flowchainsensei: "Nuclear weapons." 

carlacasilli: "They have things we want. Things like natural resources." 

lakesunrise: "B/C there are no jobs for vets. Our economy can't handle the extra war-hardened soldiers. They'll be forced into idleness- scary." 

briantroy: "I'm gonna go with winning elections and ego." 

AndyBold: "Oil, again. Afghanistan is a major gateway to the sea in that area which is why Russia went in. Think oil pipes & Asian continent." 

adamkmiec: "we used MapQuest for directions on how to get out?" 

rbonini: "We have yet to find Bin laden?" 

jeremyfelt: "Manifest Destiny (squared)"