The Strategic Importance of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the United States

Abstract

Strategic importance, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. What is of strategic importance to one nation can be of no importance. — a void or wasteland — to another. In a world polarized in a global struggle between Communist and anti-Communist nations, gaining the cooperation or the ability to control even the least strategically important nations might be considered a liability. Strategic importance, however, is to the beholding nation based on a appraisal of elements of strength or weakness which could have a substantial favorable or adverse influence on its own security and well-being. This is more important if there is involved a potential leverage or multiplier result from the initial gain or loss, which would include any so-called ‘domino effect’.