United States involvement in the Middle East over the past 30 years has been characterized by opportunistic goals alongside with American shortsightedness.  Ever since the end of World War II the United States has had an influence in the Middle East and has been using its resources and manipulating their political structure not only for peace but for American gains.  One of the biggest reasons that the United States went into the Middle East and more specifically Afghanistan was to stop the spread of communism.  When the soviets attacked Afghanistan the United States began to train special forces of fighter known as the mujahedeen.  The mujahedeen were Afghani fighters that were not only trained by the United States funding but they were also given weapons.  The mujahedeen were employed by the United States to kill the soviets.  America overlooked the political standing of these Afghani fighters and only cared that they would rid Afghanistan of all the soviets.  What the United States didn’t know is that many of these fighters after the war took the weapons and the bases provided by the United States and used it to create what is today known as Al Qaeda. 

One of the other main reasons that the United States went into the Middle East was due to the abundance of oil.  The United States wanted to protect their interests in the oil game and wanted to control the political scheme behind it, insuring that the United States would not get left out.