I've travelled a bit to Libya and this analysis is spot on. The last time I was there in fact, the average person on the street was thrilled that U.S. business was coming back.
In recent years Central Asia is growing in importance - one of the many reasons being the need for energy, included in that are the South Stream and Nabucco gas pipelines and Turkey’s role of aiming to become an energy hub with oil and gas coming in from Central Asia on its way to Europe (this also involves heavily Russia with Gazprom controlling much of the natural gas into EU
This is an excellent analysis of a region that is becoming increasingly important for Europe with regards to energy and geopolitics, while at the same time affecting US policy with regard to Afghanistan.
This is probably one of the best analysis articles that I read in a long time related to the War on Terror and the current state of al Qaeda and how that relates to the war in Afghanistan,