Afghanistan is the graveyard of.... Mostly Western Empires.

Um... 1) Afghanistan is not all the "Middle East", 2) While the Mongols and Indians occupied for some time, they aren't there now. 3) After Alexander and the absolute ruin his death caused, the place wasn't even worth it for another 500 years, Until Rome considered it. This was one of the tiny reasons the empire split in half, and at that point THE PERSIANS DIDN'T FUCKING EXIST. 4) It took them another 800 years to wrest control from Rome and when Islam popped up, guess where the ruinous ground was? Afghanistan. If Afghanistan had not been left in ruins by Alexander, and India wanted it w/o going to war w/ the Chinese dynasties, do you seriously think the Hindu Kush would stop them? They'da marched through what is now Pakistan, spread to the inland seas north, the Mediterranean in the west, and the East coast of Africa by sea. But why? They were content; they monitored the silk road after it left China. They were already rich beyond belief.