Is Oil the Real Target in Afghanistan?
Why are the Bush Administration and the Pentagon so intent on invading Afghanistan? If Bush has the “evidence” he claims, why not bring Bin Laden before the World Court? Are they really just interested in bringing down the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden? After all, it was the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, along with Pakistan’s intelligence forces who helped establish the Taliban as a base of power in Afghanistan in the first place As recently as May 2001, George W. Bush sent the Taliban $43 million allegedly to aid in the fight against drugs in northern Afghanistan, the one part of the country controlled by opposition forces. Now Congress is allocating billions more dollars for “America’s new war”. There’s not much new about it, however.
U.S. bombs and missiles have killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Sudan, Somalia and Afghanistan in the past two decades alone. More often than not the aim has been to secure U.S. control over the oil rich resources of the Middle East and southern Asia, and this latest war drive, with the pretext of revenge for September 11, may be no different.
Ever since the fall of the former Soviet Union ten years ago, Exxon, Mobil, Chevron and the other big oil monopolies have been scheming to get their hands on the vast oil and gas wealth around the Caspian Sea, just north of Afghanistan. This region’s oil reserves may reach more than 60 billion barrels – enough to service Europe’s oil needs for 11 years. Some estimates are as high as 200 billion barrels. The Caspian Sea reserves are 10 percent of the world’s known supply – worth about $5 trillion at today’s prices.
In February 1998, Unocal Corporation testified to the House Committee on Internal Relations Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific that the “Taliban government in Afghanistan is an obstacle” to having an oil pipeline from the Caspian region to the Indian Ocean – that is, through Afghanistan. In 1997, Unocal even tried to woo the Taliban with billions of dollars to support the proposed pipeline through their country. The unrecognized Taliban government, however, was a set back to their plans.
Having a government in Afghanistan that is beholden to U.S. interests, along with stationing U.S. troops in the former Soviet Republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, would secure the region and allow this project to proceed. And just in time, as far as the U.S. oil companies are concerned, because there is international competition for the Caspian Sea oil resources.
Russia and German companies had been trying to establish a pipeline from the Caspian Sea through Eastern Europe, but U.S. bombing of Yugoslavia blocked this plan. Russia, however, also brokered a treaty with Iran for a pipeline route. China also began negotiating to build oil and gas pipelines from Kazakhstan. In January 2001, oil industry journals lamented that any chance the U.S. had of cementing alliances in the region seemed doomed. They noted, however, that the incoming Bush administration, heavy in oil and related interests, would likely try to reverse this trend (www.caucasuswatch.com).
The U.S. has it’s own oil reserves, and does not need to rely on oil from abroad. However, Europe, Japan and Asia are dependent on oil from the Middle East (oil that is controlled by U.S. and British companies) and they are eager for alternative and cheaper sources. The continuous U.S. bombing of Iraq has kept oil prices high enough to make construction of a U.S.-owned pipeline seem possible. The profits to be made from controlling the flow of oil are the issue at stake in “America’s new war”.
Issued by Philadelphia International Action Center, 813 S. 48th St., Philadelphia, PA 19143, 215-724-1618, philnpc@op.net
posted 10/14/01
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