Reply #39: I wonder if you could be confusing the Christian tithe with zakat taxes? [View All]

Not sure either play a big part in the efforts to get a secure corridor for pipeline construction in Afhganistan & environs. I'm sure you're aware that the original Taliban themselves were more about pre-Islamic customs of village Pashtunistan than Islam, Islam there is the closest to a "modern development" that that area of the world has seen.

I don't think it's so much a question of the US being "outbid" as being taken for a ride to an extent, but they really want that pipeline :)

South America is being staffed by 100% commercials, as is sub-Saharan Africa, the US has pretty much sewed up the world supply and the "jihadi groups" you refer to have neither the funds, the inclination, nor in most cases the knowledge to outbid the US.