US Intervention in Afghanistan since 2001: Security Implications for India

Middle East the mother of civilisations is one of the very few regions of global politics which
have remained the hot spots and orbits around which the global power game revolved
uninterruptedly. In beginning it was due to its geopolitical location as it is at the crossroads and a
trade link between big Asian, African and European countries turned the region into a trade hub.
Then the life changing discoveries of natural resources, particularly of oil and gas in the region as
well as the industrial revolution in other parts of the world increased strategic importance of the
region at the global level. The adoption of policy of securing control over the resources by global
powers gave new shape to the political structure and configuration, like disintegration of
Ottoman Empire and creation of new political entities in the region. In addition to that the break
out of the First and Second World Wars, creation of Israel as well as the emergence of the Cold
War are such events that transformed the region into a battle ground for the global super powers
which ended at the collapse of the USSR in 1992 and emergence of the US as the dominant
global power. No doubt after the emergence of uni-polar global order, the region saw a phase of
peace and end of the war gaming on the part of the big powers but the US continued to dominate
the regional political structure. During the same period the region also experienced one of the
toughest periods of inter-state wars, first the decade long Iraq-Iran war and then the Iraqi
invasion of Kuwait which added more fuel to the already increasing division and hatred among
the regional countries.