WTF is with Afghanistan?

  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)"