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Is an Oil Pipeline Behind the War in Afghanistan?
by Bill Sardi

Testimony before the US Congress is circulating on the internet. It pertains
to a proposed oil pipeline through Central Asia that is applicable to the
current war in Afghanistan.

On February 12, 1998, John J. Maresca, vice president, international
relations for UNOCAL oil company, testified before the US House of
Representatives, Committee on International Relations. Maresca provided
information to Congress on Central Asia oil and gas reserves and how they
might shape US foreign policy. UNOCAL's problem? As Maresca said: "How to
get the region's vast energy resources to the markets." The oil reserves are
in areas north of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and
Russia. Routes for a pipeline were proposed that would transport oil on a
42-inch pipe southward thru Afghanistan for 1040 miles to the Pakistan
coast. Such a pipeline would cost about $2.5 billion and carry about 1
million barrels of oil per day.

Maresca told Congress then that: "It's not going to be built until there is
a single Afghan government. That's the simple answer."

Dana Rohrbacher, California congressman, then identified the Taliban as the
ruling controllers among various factions in Afghanistan and characterized
them as "opium producers."

Then Rohrbacher asked Maresca: "There is a Saudi terrorist who is infamous
for financing terrorism around the world. Is he in the Taliban area or is he
up there with the northern people?"

Maresca answered: "If it is the person I am thinking of, he is there in the
Taliban area." This testimony obviously alluded to Osama bin Laden.

Then Rorhbacher asked: "... in the northern area as compared to the place
where the Taliban are in control, would you say that one has a better human
rights record toward women than the other?"

Maresca responded by saying: "With respect to women, yes. But I don't think
either faction here has a very clean human rights record, to tell you the
truth."

So women's rights were introduced into Congressional testimony by
Congressman Rohrbacher as the wedge for UNOCAL to build its pipeline through
Afghanistan. Three years later CNN would be airing its acclaimed TV
documentary "Under The Veil," which displayed the oppressive conditions that
women endure in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban (a propaganda film
for the oil pipeline?).

Rohrbacher then went on to say that a democratic election should take place
in Afghanistan and "if the Taliban are not willing to make that kind of
commitment, I would be very hesitant to move foreward on a $2.5 billion
investment because without that commitment, I don't think there is going to
be any tranquility in that land."

Beginning in 1998 UNOCAL was chastized, particularly by women's rights
groups, for discussions with the Taliban, and headed in retreat as a
worldwide effort mounted to come to the defense of the Afghani women. This
forced UNOCAL to withdraw from its talks with the Taliban and dissolve its
multinational partnership in that region. In 1999 Alexander's Gas & Oil
Connections newsletter said: "UNOCAL company officials said late last year
(1998) they were abandoning the project because of the need to cut costs in
the Caspian region and because of the repeated failure of efforts to resolve
the long civil conflict in Afghanistan." [Volume 4, issue #20 - Monday,
November 22, 1999]

Three days following the attack on the World Trade Centers in New York City,
UNOCAL issued a statement reconfirming it had withdrawn from its project in
Afghanistan, long before recent events. [www.unocal.com September 14, 2001
statement]

UNOCAL was not the only party positioning themselves to tap into oil and gas
reserves in central Asia. UNOCAL was primary member of a multinational
consortium called CentGas (Central Asia Gas) along with Delta Oil Company
Limited (Saudi Arabia), the Government of Turkmenistan, Indonesia Petroleum,
LTD. (INPEX) (Japan), ITOCHU Oil Exploration Co., Ltd. (Japan), Hyundai
Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. (Korea), the Crescent Group (Pakistan)
and RAO Gazprom (Russia).

Just because CentGas had dissolved does not mean that the involved parties
have totally abandoned their interest in building an oil pipeline out of
Central Asia. There is also talk of another pipeline thru Iran. India and
Pakistan are bidding to be the pipeline terminal ocean port since they would
obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in fees.

So, in 1998 Osama bin Laden was identified as the villain behind the
Taliban, Afghanistani women the victims of an oppressive Taliban regime, and
the stage was set for a future stabilization effort (i.e. a war). Was all
this a cover story for a future oil pipeline?

In November 2000, Bruce Hoffman, director of the Rand Institute office in
Washington DC, indicated that the next US President would have to face up to
the growing threat is Islamic terrorism. Hoffman: "The next administration
must turn its immediate attention to knitting together the full range of US
counterterrorist capabilities into a cohesive plan." [Los Angeles Times,
November 12, 2000]

All that was needed was a triggering event.

October 15, 2001

Bill Sardi is a health journalist at www.askbillsardi.com.

Write to him at BSardi@...

Copyright © 2001 by the Bill Sardi Word of Knowledge Agency, San Dimas,
California.