<<We didn't need those resorces before 2000?>>
Sure ya did, but you didn't have the excuse. Furthermore, and probably more importantly, for most of the time, you had to worry about what the U.S.S.R. would do.
<<Afganistan is on the backside of anything that matters . . . >>
That might be your opinion, but I think most of us can read maps and draw the obvious conclusions from them.
<<the main thing it has to attract our attention is a dangerous enemy.>>
Latest estimates I saw were that at most there were a couple hundred al Qaeda left in Afghanistan. If a couple hundred men are a "dangerous enemy" to a nation of 300 million with the world's most powerful military, you are in much worse shape than even I could ever imagine.