Source: Boiling Frogs PostWilliam Blum
With
the US war in Iraq supposedly having reached a good conclusion (or
halfway decent … or better than nothing … or let’s get the hell out of
here while some of us are still in one piece and there are some Iraqis
we haven’t yet killed), the best and the brightest in our government and
media turn their thoughts to what to do about Afghanistan. It appears
that no one seems to remember, if they ever knew, that Afghanistan was
not really about 9-11 or fighting terrorists (except the many the US has
created by its invasion and occupation), but was about pipelines.
President Obama declared in August
2009: “But we must never forget this is not a war of choice. This is a
war of necessity. Those who attacked America on 9/11 are plotting to do
so again. If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even
larger safe haven from which al Qaeda would plot to kill more
Americans.”
Never mind that out of the tens of
thousands of people the United States and its NATO front have killed in
Afghanistan not one has been identified as having had anything to do
with the events of September 11, 2001.
Never mind that the “plotting to
attack America” in 2001 was devised in Germany and Spain and the United
States more than in Afghanistan. Why hasn’t the United States bombed
those countries?
Indeed, what actually was needed to
plot to buy airline tickets and take flying lessons in the United
States? A room with some chairs? What does “an even larger safe haven”
mean? A larger room with more chairs? Perhaps a blackboard? Terrorists
intent upon attacking the United States can meet almost anywhere, with
Afghanistan probably being one of the worst places for them, given the
American occupation.
The only “necessity” that drew the
United States to Afghanistan was the desire to establish a military
presence in this land that is next door to the Caspian Sea region of
Central Asia — which reportedly contains the second largest proven
reserves of petroleum and natural gas in the world — and build oil and
gas pipelines from that region running through Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is well situated for oil
and gas pipelines to serve much of south Asia, pipelines that can bypass
those not-yet Washington clients, Iran and Russia. If only the Taliban
would not attack the lines. Here’s Richard Boucher, US Assistant
Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, in 2007: “One of
our goals is to stabilize Afghanistan, so it can become a conduit and a
hub between South and Central Asia so that energy can flow to the south.”
Since
the 1980s all kinds of pipelines have been planned for the area, only
to be delayed or canceled by one military, financial or political
problem or another. For example, the so-called TAPI pipeline
(Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) had strong support from
Washington, which was eager to block a competing pipeline that would
bring gas to Pakistan and India from Iran. TAPI goes back to the late
1990s, when the Taliban government held talks with the California-based
oil company Unocal Corporation. These talks were conducted with the full
knowledge of the Clinton administration, and were undeterred by the
extreme repression of Taliban society. Taliban officials even made trips
to the United States for discussions. 11
Testifying before the House Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific on
February 12, 1998, Unocal representative John Maresca discussed the
importance of the pipeline project and the increasing difficulties in
dealing with the Taliban:
The region’s total oil reserves may
well reach more than 60 billion barrels of oil. Some estimates are as
high as 200 billion barrels … From the outset, we have made it clear
that construction of the pipeline we have proposed across Afghanistan
could not begin until a recognized government is in place that has the
confidence of governments, leaders, and our company.
When those talks stalled in July,
2001 the Bush administration threatened the Taliban with military
reprisals if the government did not go along with American demands. The
talks finally broke down for good the following month, a month before
9-11.
The United States has been serious
indeed about the Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf oil and gas areas. Through
one war or another beginning with the Gulf War of 1990-1, the US has
managed to establish military bases in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain,
Qatar, Oman, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan,
and Kazakhstan.
The war against the Taliban can’t be
“won” short of killing everyone in Afghanistan. The United States may
well try again to negotiate some form of pipeline security with the
Taliban, then get out, and declare “victory”. Barack Obama can surely
deliver an eloquent victory speech from his teleprompter. It might even
include the words “freedom” and “democracy”, but certainly not
“pipeline”.
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William Blum is an American, historian and critic of United States foreign policy. He is the author of Killing Hope: U.S. Military & CIA Interventions Since World War II. He has described his life’s mission as: “If
not ending, at least slowing down the American Empire. At least
injuring the beast. It’s causing so much suffering around the world.“Mr. Blum can be reached through his website http://killinghope.org .
