Some of us hoped that when the President fired Stanley McChrystal that there might be a pause to reflect on the Mission in Afghanistan; to consider the advisability of a nine-year war Americans are starting to turn away from, and even The House is beginning to balk at funding.  Instead, with the appointment of Davis Petraeus, it seems as though the strategy and the war will not only continue, but extend in time.  You can hear 'success' in the General's voice.  Uh-oh.

David Petraeus is more than a General.  We know this because of the multiple roles he played in Iraq: warrior, political scientist, sociologist, public relations strategist, and more.

He may now add Entrepreneur to his resume.

Writing for Foreign Policy Magazine, Stephen Levine pings about a recent article in  National Journal by Sydney Freedburg, Jr., claiming General Petraeus is highly interested in an 'ambitious regional development strategy aiming to turn Afghanistan from an economic backwater into a hub for trans-Eurasian trade, according to three of his civilian advisers. 

The gist of the plan is to return Afghanistan to the days of yore as a trade hub. 

The idea is "a major effort to link India's booming economy through Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia to Caspian, European, Russian and Chinese markets," according to a 48-page booklet describing the idea.  Authors Frederick Starr and Andrew Kuchins included a glowing review by General Petraeus in the opening pages of the report.

Says Levine: 

The plan provides no details on the extent of the construction envisioned, nor the price. But Afghanistan, which currently contains a whopping 15 miles of railroad track, would have a full-blown rail network following most of the country's perimeter before trailing off to Pakistan's port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea, and connecting to existing railroads in Pakistan, in Iran and north into the former Soviet Union. Afghanistan's road network would be completed and built up to modern standards. Electric lines would be extended throughout the country.

As for energy pipelines, the new plan calls for the construction of the 1,000-mile-long Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline, known as TAPI, which the Asian Development Bank is studying. It and the Unocal proposal are generally identical routes through the Taliban heartland in western and southern Afghanistan. 

The authors seem to direct your attention away from the security problems of a multi-billion dollar project or projects in their glee; they see the plan as the underpinnings for Success in Afghanistan.

While discussing the roles of USAID and assumedly the military in the vision and implementation of the project, USAID  representative and political advisor (now business advisor) Martin Hanratty said this could provide jobs for Afghans and give the country independent revenue instead of relying on foreign aid.

"There's a tremendous amount of synergy here," said Petraeus' deputy political adviser, Lewis Elbinger, a State Department foreign service officer on loan to Central Command. "We should get the whole of [the] U.S. government to align behind this project, [and] we're working with our friends on the Afghan side." Elbinger added that he hoped the two governments would announce the plan as official policy at a Kabul conference on July 20.

 "General Petraeus loves the vision," declared CENTCOM chief's economic adviser, Leif Rosenberger. But Rosenberger added a cautionary note about the hard work ahead in a conversation after the event with National Journal.

And gemstones and lithium and gold and copper, oh my; and trains and highways across land masses to seaports and...such is the stuff  that fills the dreams of greedy bastards...

 (Levine at Foreign Policy quotes an anonymous friend and expert of Afghanistan as a detractor of the idea...)