A Reminder of Why We Are Actually in Afghanistan

[Truth2Tell]

Kinda long post but I think it's all worth a reminder...

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From: testimony before the House International Relations Committee, February 12, 1998:

http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa48119.000/hfa48119_0.HTM

STATEMENT OF JOHN J. MARESCA, VICE
PRESIDENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, UNOCAL CORPORATION

Mr. Maresca: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's nice to see you again. I am John Maresca, vice president for international relations of the Unocal Corporation. Unocal, as you know, is one of the world's leading energy resource and project development companies. I appreciate your invitation to speak here today...

-snip

The key question then is how the energy resources of Central Asia can be made available to nearby Asian markets. There are two possible solutions, with several variations. One option is to go east across China, but this would mean constructing a pipeline of more than 3,000 kilometers just to reach Central China...

The second option is to build a pipeline south from Central Asia to the Indian Ocean. One obvious route south would cross Iran, but this is foreclosed for American companies because of U.S. sanctions legislation. The only other possible route is across Afghanistan, which has of course its own unique challenges. The country has been involved in bitter warfare for almost two decades, and is still divided by civil war. 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, lenders, and our company...

Unocal foresees a pipeline which would become part of a regional system that will gather oil from existing pipeline infrastructure in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. The 1,040-mile long oil pipeline would extend south through Afghanistan to an export terminal that would be constructed on the Pakistan coast. This 42-inch diameter pipeline will have a shipping capacity of one million barrels of oil per day. The estimated cost of the project, which is similar in scope to the trans-Alaska pipeline, is about $2.5 billion.

Given the plentiful natural gas supplies of Central Asia, our aim is to link gas resources with the nearest viable markets...

Last October, the Central Asia Gas Pipeline Consortium, called CentGas, in which Unocal holds an interest, was formed to develop a gas pipeline which will link Turkmenistan's vast Dauletabad gas field with markets in Pakistan and possibly India. The proposed 790-mile pipeline will open up new markets for this gas, traveling from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Multan in Pakistan. The proposed extension would move gas on to New Delhi, where it would connect with an existing pipeline. As with the proposed Central Asia oil pipeline, CentGas can not begin construction until an internationally recognized Afghanistan Government is in place...

The Central Asia and Caspian region is blessed with abundant oil and gas... The impact of these resources on U.S. commercial interests and U.S. foreign policy is also significant...

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And now imagine the dumb luck of ending up with THIS GUY as "President" of Afghanistan...

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From: Asia Times, January 29, 2002:

http://www.atimes.com/c-asia/DA29Ag02.html

Mr Karzai goes to Washington ...

The man who spotted Karzai's leadership potential and recruited him to "the fold" was then RAND program director, now US National Security Council member and special Bush envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad...

And one further thing both men have in common is that in 1996/97 they advised American oil company Unocal on the US$2 billion project of a Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline. In 2000, Khalilzad invited Karzai to address a RAND seminar on Afghanistan; the same year, Karzai also testified before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and met periodically with Christina Rocca, then a Senate aide... now the assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs...

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So this didn't take long...

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From: BBC, December 27, 2002:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2608713.stm

An agreement has been signed in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, paving the way for construction of a gas pipeline from the Central Asian republic through Afghanistan to Pakistan.

The building of the trans-Afghanistan pipeline has been under discussion for some years but plans have been held up by Afghanistan's unstable political situation.

This follows a summit meeting bringing together the presidents of the three countries last May when the project received formal go-ahead.

The pipeline would represent the first major foreign investment in Afghanistan in many years...

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It's never been about 9/11 or a tall dude hiding in caves.

[msongs]

1. yet another great reason why the internal combustion engine needs to be dumped ASAP nt

[Cleita]

2. Oil or energy. We know. n/t

[pnwmom]

3. We waged war in Afghanistan because Bin Laden was being harbored there.

This is just more conspiracy theory.

[Truth2Tell]

4. care to refute anything in the OP? nt

[Luminous Animal]

6. Hahahaha!!!!

And a mountain of people dead, displaced, diseased... all to catch one guy living in a cave.

[Hannah Bell]

8. oh for god's sake. false.

[sabrina 1]

11. A Congressional hearing is a 'conspiracy theory'??

I remember that hearing, and I remember the reports in the NYT about the Afghanistan pipeline. I also remember that the Taliban was invited to DC before 9/11 and treated like visiting royalty. Of course the NYT was just reporting news at the time.

I also remember that the Taliban turned down the proposal of a pipeline in Afghanistan not long before 9/11. It was ALL in the news back then. The Taliban were news in the late 'nineties in case you forgot.

Then came 9/11 and one month later, Afghanistan was invaded.

Now, explain where the conspiracy is in people reporting NEWS.

I am so sick of the deniers of reality in this country. Go outside of the US and this is common knowledge, but here, there is a willful blindness to the facts for some reason.

Of course when Bush was president, these FACTS were discussed often on democratic boards while on rightwing forums, they were called ...... CONSPIRACY THEORIES! :eyes:

[ThomCat]

12. No, it is not a conspiracy theory.

The need for a pipeline across Afghanistan was established foreign policy long before the war.

The possible routes for pipelines across Afghanistan, being the sorted routes to the sea for transporting oil from the land-locked nations on the other side were being proposed and discussed in magazines and journals for at least a decade prior.

Just because you are ignorant doesn't make something a conspiracy.

Just because you want to blindly support a war based on the given pretexts doesn't make the real reasons a conspiracy.

[krabigirl]

14. Sure, that's why were have been engaged in "nation building" over there.

[tekisui]

16. And we stay because.....?????

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

17. I love it when people engage in coincidence theories. nt

[Javaman]

18. Fail. nt

[Uncle Joe]

29. If that's the case, it's odd that Bush would make a statement like this.

On a thread by Las Vegas Mixx

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1008744

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care.
It's not that important. It's not our priority."

- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02

[johnaries]

5. Tell that to the 3000 grieving families.

I dare you to look them in the eyes and say that. I find this post disrespectful to those families. It's posts like this that give Liberals a bad name.

Unrecc'd in total disgust.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JackRiddler]

22. Actually, I've had a few members of the 3000 grieving families tell that to me.

They differ about what should have been done after September 11th, like any other group.

Stop using them as an exploitation tool for a war that was planned and intended before September 11th.

The same slogan was used to justify Iraq, by the way, although it was clear the Bush regime was lying about a connection between AQ and Saddam.

[ThomCat]

23. It is not disrespectful to admit that truth that this war was fought for

oil.

What is disrespectful is that BUSH, and then Obama chose to fight an unnecessary war for oil. They are the ones who have been disrespecting all the people who unnecessarily gave their lives, and their families who have unnecessarily lost a loved one.

Knowing the truth isn't disrespect. Continuing to believe lies, that would be participating in the disrespect.

[Truth2Tell]

28. Oh please. nt

[robinlynne]

33. "liberals"? Facts give "liberals" a bad name? really?

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MilesColtrane]

10. See what kind of company you keep?

[Truth2Tell]

13. See what kind of arguments you make?

[ThomCat]

24. Huh?

:shrug:

Is that supposed to make sense?

[MilesColtrane]

26. .

[ThomCat]

27. Ah. Okay. Sorry.

:)

[Truth2Tell]

32. Someone's sock got a pizza and now the

exchange doesn't make sense. Not that it ever did.

[Wilms]

15. .

[crickets]

19. "either you accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury you under a carpet of bombs"

The attack on Afghanistan was always on the table, because the businessmen building the pipeline wanted a biddable government installed to reduce the risk to their investment. Plans for war were drawn up and in the works before Sept 11th.

November 20, 2001
US policy on Taliban influenced by oil
http://www.atimes.com/c-asia/CK20Ag01.html

PARIS - Under the influence of United States oil companies, the government of President George W Bush initially blocked intelligence agencies' investigations on terrorism while it bargained with the Taliban on the delivery of Osama bin Laden in exchange for political recognition and economic aid, two French intelligence analysts claim.

In the book Bin Laden, la verite interdite (Bin Laden, the forbidden truth), that was released recently, the authors, Jean-Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie, reveal that the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) deputy director John O'Neill resigned in July in protest over the obstruction. -snip-

But, confronted with Taliban's refusal to accept US conditions, "this rationale of energy security changed into a military one", the authors claim.

"At one moment during the negotiations, the US representatives told the Taliban, 'either you accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury you under a carpet of bombs,'" Brisard said in an interview in Paris.

Tuesday, 18 September, 2001, 11:27 GMT 12:27 UK
US 'planned attack on Taleban'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1550366.stm

A former Pakistani diplomat has told the BBC that the US was planning military action against Osama Bin Laden and the Taleban even before last week's attacks. Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, was told by senior American officials in mid-July that military action against Afghanistan would go ahead by the middle of October. Mr Naik said US officials told him of the plan at a UN-sponsored international contact group on Afghanistan which took place in Berlin. -snip-

He said that he was in no doubt that after the World Trade Center bombings this pre-existing US plan had been built upon and would be implemented within two or three weeks. And he said it was doubtful that Washington would drop its plan even if Bin Laden were to be surrendered immediately by the Taleban.

Thanks for bringing this up again, Truth2Tell. It's important to remember that the invasion of Afghanistan was always really about OIL and who is going to control as much of it as possible, wherever it might be found.

[bvar22]

20. You know, if these WARS were to secure energy FOR the American People,

I could understand them...
not Support them, but understand them.

The American People pay the Price of WAR in Blood, Public Treasure, and Blowback,
but do NOT receive the Oil/Gas.
The Oil/Gas is given to the MultiNational Oil Corporations who
SELL it on the World Market for the BEST possible profit.

The American Taxpayers PAY for The OIL/GAS FOUR Times:
1)Blood & Taxpayer Money to directly prosecute The WARS,
2)Homeland Security to handle the Blowback,
3)Profit for the Oil Corporations at The Pump,
and,
4)Billions in "subsidies" for the Oil Corporations

THATS quite a racket.

"And everyone has a share!" shouted Milo
as the American planes began dropping bombs on their own base.

[ThomCat]

25. The companies have already paid their bribes directly to the

politicians in the form of campaign contributions, donations to PACs, and paying for trips and outings and perks.

The politicians obviously feel that this is sufficient. They got theirs.

If those corporations go on to screw the rest of the nation and all the people in it, that's okay. Those politicians probably all own quite a bit of stock in these companies. They probably even know which ones to invest in because of the work they are doing.

Who really investigates THEM for trading with insider knowledge, after all? So if prices skyrocket and corporate profits go through the roof they could all be profiting directly from this, while we keep paying the bills.

:(

[Zorra]

21. Bookmarked and recd. Thanks for this info. nt

[Uncle Joe]

30. Perhaps that's why they don't want to

give credit to Clinton as well, because he didn't take us in to Afghanistan?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1025978

Thanks for the thread, Truth2Tell.

[Melissa G]

31. "It's never been about 9/11 or a tall dude hiding in caves."

Thanks for this. It bears repeating.

I saw the article in the French papers the summer before we bombed Afghanistan. The article reported about the threats for not building the pipeline. It somehow popped up while I was researching about daily election threads. Sure enough, by Fall we had bombed them.

Sad. It was always about the pipeline. It still is.

[Dover]

34. Thanks for the reminder. Yes we're there for energy, resources, strategic positioning with the east.

I've posted a lot of stuff on our "silk road strategy" if anyone cares to do a search.

The media likes to keep us distracted from the primary reasons (have you EVER heard them discuss the Silk Road Strategy?), and get us all wadded up in the flag.
My concern is that they'll invent a fresh new boogeyman or excuse to stay in Afghanistan, attack Pakistan...who knows... to build up our presence there rather than wrapping things up and bringing our troops home.

[Dover]

35. UPDATE on TAPI pipeline

Between the natural gas transit and the vast mineral wealth (known about well before Russia invaded Afghanistan) there just wasn't much time to chase the boogeyman, bin Laden.

4/27/2011
TAPI gas pipeline talks begins

New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) The four nation''s to the US- backed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline begun discussing gas sales and other details of the USD 7.6 billion project here but are unlikely to conclude any agreement at the end of four day talk this week.
India is hosting the official-level dialogue which among other things is to deliberate on a Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement (GSPA) and project structure, officials said.
"The four-day talks began on Monday and will continue till April 28," an official said. "An official communique is likely to be issued at the end of the talks on Thursday."
The Technical Working Group (TWG) on TAPI project will hold meetings on the first three days while the steering committee of project will meet on April 28, to be attended by Oil Ministers of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
However, GSPA is unlikely to be finalised in these talks and the four nations may agree for another date for holding further discussions on the issue.
cont'd

http://news.in.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5140477



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Dec. 14, 2010

TAPI Pipeline: A new silk route links Central and South Asia


ASHGABAT (Commodity Online) : As a project which would aimed to boost economic growth of not only India but other participating countries, India termed the TAPI pipeline the new ‘Silk Route' between Central Asia and South Asia.

The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline will usher in a new era of Asian solidarity, said the Indian petroleum minister Murali Deora

Afghan, Pakistani, Indian and Turkmen delegates gathered in Ashgabat to take part in a conference to advance a multinational natural gas pipeline.

The 1,680 kilometer long gas pipeline is projected to cost over $ 7.6 billion, would bring 3.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day (bcfd) from Turkmenistan to Pakistan, and end in India.

cont'd
http://www.commodityonline.com/news/TAPI-Pipeline-A-New-Silk-Route-links-Central-Asia-to-South-Asia-34513-3-1.html

-------

Want more background info on TAPI history?
Search the web and DU archives under "TAPI" and you'll get a ton.
Also search under "Silk Road Strategy" for our long term strategy
regarding that region.

[Truth2Tell]

36. Great info... Thanks Dover! nt