posted on July 21, 2002 11:22:01 PM new
A senior delegation from the Taleban movement in
Afghanistan is in the United States for talks with an
international energy company that wants to construct a
gas pipeline from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to
Pakistan.
A spokesman for the company, Unocal, said the Taleban
were expected to spend several days at the company's
headquarters in Sugarland, Texas.
Unocal says it has agreements both with Turkmenistan
to sell its gas and with Pakistan to buy it.
THE Taliban, Afghanistan's Islamic fundamentalist army, is about to sign a £2 billion contract with an American oil company to build a pipeline across the war-torn country.
The Islamic warriors appear to have been persuaded to close the deal, not through delicate negotiation but by old-fashioned Texanhospitality. Last week Unocal, the Houston-based company bidding to build the 876-mile pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan,invited the Taliban to visit them in Texas. Dressed in traditional salwar khameez, Afghan waistcoats and loose, black turbans, the high-ranking delegation was given VIP treatment during the four-day stay.
The Taliban ministers and their advisers stayed in a five-star hotel and were chauffeured in a company minibus. Their only requests were to visit Houston's zoo, the Nasa space centre and Omaha's Super Target discount store to buy stockings, toothpaste, combs and soap. The Taliban, which controls two-thirds of Afghanistan and is still fighting for the last third, was also given an insight into how the other half lives.
The men, who are accustomed to life without heating, electricity or running water, were amazed by the luxurious homes of Texan
oil barons. Invited to dinner at the palatial home of Martin Miller, a vice-president of Unocal, they marvelled at his swimming pool,
views of the golf course and six bathrooms. After a meal of specially prepared halal meat, rice and Coca-Cola, the hardline fundamentalists who have banned women from working and girls from going to school - asked Mr Miller about his Christmas tree.
Billions were about to be made until Clinton stopped all U.S. dealings with the Taliban for humanitarian reasons.
Unocal had invested billions of dollars to initiate the much sought pipeline but their plans were dashed and their money wasted. A new administration had to be put in place at any cost to bypass regulation by removing the Taliban in favor of any seemingly democratic regime so that the losses could be recovered and the plan continued.
That's what happened, and it's fascism by any definition - the power of corporations in this country exceed that of the government in place.
posted on July 22, 2002 06:50:20 PM new
I don't understand this at all. What power does the Taliban even have to hold any kind of talk with these oil companies?
posted on July 22, 2002 07:15:59 PM new
It is a history lesson for you. This is what was going on during Daddy Bush's Administration before the "evil and corrupt" Clinton put a stop to it because of his "evil and corrupt" belief in Human Rights. He pissed off the Oil Companies, the Republican fatcats and the Taliban royally. Rather than shape up and improve conditions, it started the series of events that culminated in what we now call 9-11.
.
Reality is a serious condition brought on by a lack of alcohol in the system
posted on July 22, 2002 07:17:03 PM new
K.D I think this was past tense,The storey
is from 1997. The Taliban had all the power then. Psssssssst Im learning as I go.
posted on July 22, 2002 07:23:40 PM new
I wasn't talking about Bush Jr......
.
Reality is a serious condition brought on by a lack of alcohol in the system
posted on July 22, 2002 08:04:41 PM new
you dont even have your fools straight,
Bush is the drunken fool who spends too much time screwing the country to chase women.
posted on July 23, 2002 04:13:29 PM new
Just took the time to read through the linked article. Been hearing a lot about this pipeline on this site lately, so gave the article a read.
Couple of points:
(1) The oil and gas in Afghanistan's northern neighbor was discovered in 1994.
(2) The article itself was from 1997.
(3) Therefore, the discovery of the oil and natural gas and the pipeline building negotiations all took place during Clinton's administration (Jan 1993- Jan 2001).
(4) The meeting between UNOCAL and the Taliban took place in Texas because that is where the UNOCAL offices are located.
(5) The US Government which was trying anxiously to complete this deal was the Clinton administration, not Bush Senior or Bush Junior.
(6) This all happened prior to the embassies being bombed in East Africa (1998) and the USS Cole being bombed in Yemen (2000). Not too many people were paying attention to Osama bin Laden before 1998.
Please check out the quotes from the article below:
"Unocal, which heads an international consortium of companies from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Japan, has been bidding for the contract since vast oil and gas reserves were discovered in Turkmenistan, one of the southernmost states of the former Soviet Union, in 1994. The fuel has so far been untapped because of Moscow's demands for high transport fees if it passes through Russian-controlled territory. The quickest and cheapest way to get the reserves out is to build a pipeline through Afghanistan.
It will supply two of the fastest-growing energy markets in the world: Pakistan and India. The Unocal group has one significant attraction for the Taliban - it has American government backing. At the end of their stay last week, the Afghan visitors were invited to Washington to meet government officials. The US government, which in the past has branded the Taliban's policies against women and children "despicable", appears anxious to please the fundamentalists to clinch the lucrative pipeline contract. The Taliban is likely to have been impressed by the American government's interest as it is anxious to win international recognition. So far, it has been recognised only by the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan."
What really surprises me is that a company, any company, actually considered building a pipeline across Afghanistan. With the recent history of that area, whoever shut down the pipeline saved UNOCAL tons of money. Any pipeline that was built probably would have never operated due to the constant warfare and civil turmoil present in that area. Same goes for any pipeline that would have snaked over Pakistan into India - those two have fought several wars over the last half century and generally refuse to deal with each other.
The whole concept was a terrible idea to begin with.
posted on July 24, 2002 12:05:28 PM new
auroranorth - you don't even have your fools straight. That's what I so enjoy about reading your posts. You're an equal opportunity 'call it as you see it' person.
oklahomastampman - If you care to share your opinion.....if not, I understand. Do you know or have an opinion on what/who stopped the pipeline?
posted on July 24, 2002 03:22:36 PM new
I am guessing that the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and their Osama connection, coupled with his bases in Afghanistan, made Afghanistan an instant pariah as far as the Clinton administration was concerned. With the US administration no longer supporting dealings with Afghanistan, UNOCAL probably took a long look at this once again and decided that it was best to drop it. Just too much uncertainty.
posted on July 24, 2002 04:46:25 PM new
According to a Pakistani journalist, Ahmed Rashid, author of the book, Taliban, there were several lessons learned by the Unical project. No major pipeline from Central Asia can be built unless there is far greater US and international commitment to conflict resolution in the region. The region was described as a powder keg of unresolved conflicts.
It was this journalist's opinion that Iran and Russia cannot be isolated from the region's development forever. He believed that they will resist and sabotage projects as long as they are not a part of them
Trying to resolve ethnic problems and keep states together needs persistent and consistent diplomacy rather than virtual bribes to keep various warlords quiet according to Rashid.
Oil companies cannot build pipelines which are vulnerable to civil wars, fast moving political changes and events, instability and an environment beset by Islamic fundamentalism, drugs and guns. Rushid stressed the need to stabilize and setttle the region, not increase tensions and antagonisms.
Since the book that I referred to in my last post referred to a possible competition between Russia and Iran over the oil issue, I thought that this development might be of interest. Now, the latest news is that "Russia wants to build six nuclear reactors in Iran and help its southern neighbor explore Caspian Sea oil fields, the government said Friday in a resolution certain to complicate Moscow's warming relations with Washington."
"It also proposes Russian help for Iranian exploration efforts in the Caspian Sea, whose oil and gas reserves - believed to be the world's third largest - have attracted attention from the U.S. government and the world's leading oil companies."
"Washington has championed pipeline routes to western markets that would skirt the Caspian's biggest players - Russia and Iran. Moscow and Tehran, meanwhile, have been in dispute with each other and the other three Caspian states over how to divide the sea's resources."
"Russia and Iran also plan to work together on a global navigation system that the resolution says would be used for geological research and monitoring a transport corridor between their countries."
That's what I so enjoy about reading your posts. You're an equal opportunity 'call it as you see it' person.