one reminder: US was only able to occupy Afghanistan because Russia allowed it.
If Russia closed its borders, US would've been forced to leave because it couldn't force Russia to open them and there's no other way to send logistics safely to Afghanistan.
That Russian corridor was used temporarily after the invasion and during the occupation only when Pakistan obstructed NATO supply lines.
Russia itself was in favor of the Afghan invasion because it's Gazprom was party to the preliminary oil & gas ventures developing in Central Asia, with a stake in the multinational CAOPP pipeline that would bring these landlocked resources to the Arabian Sea via Unocal's proposed oil pipeline to Gwadar. The existing Russian pipelines running from Surgut and Omsk were to be connected to COAPP.
Once Unocal pulled out, Enron collapsed, US' fantasy of a friendly Afghanistan became a distant pipedream, and the Dabhol Power Station in India got stuck in quicksand, Gazprom also pulled out. Since then, Pentagon has accused Russia of aiding Taliban operations against NATO.
Interestingly, everybody was in favor of these developments, including Taliban who were regularly invited to Texas (America's oil centre) to see existing oil infrastructure and to settle deals.
However, Taliban repeatedly rejected the American proposals, mainly over transit fees. Hence the invasion.. which lead to no outcome, especially because Taliban simply could not be defeated nor pacified. And because these energy deals were largely kept away from media, the general audience never understood what was the purpose of the War, and instead conspired silly concepts such as women's rights, democracy and freedom.
Taliban foreign minister Mohammed Ghaus meets VP-Unocal Marty Miller in his Texas home, 1997.
Taliban: friend turns fiend
The best way to picture this entire scenario is: a multinational project hindered by an upset member; US takes the lead, with the blessing of it's otherwise unfriendly foes, to restore the project by eliminating the upset member.. but totally fucks up the operation and exits in a humiliating defeat.