9/11 National Interest

National Interest Chapter
There can also be no doubt that a huge reason behind the invasion of Afghanistan, was to do with looking after Britain’s own national interest. With Britain seen as one of America’s greatest and influential allies, it would seem obvious that an attack on the scale of 9/11 could so easily be repeated on this side of the Atlantic. Whitehall according to {Chin 2013 }was concerned that 9/11 could spark a groundswell of movement against the West therefore taking action in Afghanistan to try and combat the threat possessed by the militants was seen as necessary. However there were other reasons which influenced the UKs decision to invade Afghanistan, none other than the huge drug problem which was completely out of control
Tony Blair during his premiership tried to balance Britain’s competing interests, Europe and America. There can be no doubt that throughout his premiership Blair looked to strength the relationship with the US which had been faltering for a number of years. Blair recognised that Russia and the US were the two superpowers in the world, and that he wanted Britain to be sitting at the top table with them. During the years of the Blair premiership, relationships with the Russians greatly improved, and Blair conveniently chose to ignore activity in Chechnya in order to maintain this friendship. {Gaskarth 2011} argues that Blair’s overarching plan was to project Britain back into the limelight and he saw the 9/11 terror attacks on the US as the perfect opportunity. Blair very quickly became the self-appointed spokesperson for Europe, according to {Short 2004} he very quickly promoted the idea that the whole of Europe should be united in its response to the deadly attacks. Even within Europe there was a jostling for position, with France and Germany also keen to lead from the front. One critic and closer advisor of Blair pointed out that Blair sought to ignore the EU body as a whole until it was necessary and beneficial for him, to be seen as the leader in Europe, put Britain at the forefront of the response to 9/11. According to {Stephens 2004} this period earmarked a
The country of Afghanistan is a place where the national resources of the world remain intact, that was of course before the invasion. According to {Chossudovsky 2017} Afghanistan is alleged to untapped resources such as Gas, oil and Gold, could now be worth an estimated 1 trillion dollars. Afghanistan in the words of Chossudovsky, is a land bridge, the invasion in 2001 was seen as strategic move in order to secure the corridor which links the Caspian Sea to the Arabian Sea. Crucially Turkmenistan borders Afghanistan, and sits only behind Russia and Iran for possessing the largest natural gas reserves in the world today. Of course this is only mere speculation, and there is no such evidence that a primary reason for intervention in Afghanistan was to do with the natural resources. According to {Shroder 2014} another key reason why the US/Nato led operation in Afghanistan has taken place is to stop China and Russia extending their control over the Oil/ Gas industry, it still begs the question as to whether or not this can be seen as a credible reason as to why Britain invaded Afghanistan. If the resources are worth up to and above one trillion dollars, in order for their support in the invasion it would be fair to conclude that Britain would receive a healthy sum as a reward for their efforts. I conclude that although the largely untapped natural resources