Afghanistan was never burgeoning power in recent history. However it was a strategic land-locked asset to other great and super powers throughout history. In the late, Cold War period Afghanistan, once an asset of the Soviet Union, was converted into a land-locked asset to the U.S. following the invasion by the Soviet Union in 1979. The U.S. provided weapons to mujahideen forces fighting against the invading Soviet forces, which ultimately forced their withdrawal.

Unfortunately, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, what had been a useful asset to the U.S. cold-war strategy of containment converted over time into a real threat to U.S. power, (by air, not by sea), as it served as the base of operations by a former mujahideen fighter, Osama Bin Laden, who planned and directed the 9/11 attack against three targets in the U.S.