September 11th - The Energy Connection
So where do we start?
There’s two thing that are key to understanding what's going on behind this flimsy curtain.
Chevron made a historic deal with Kazakhstan to develop the oil and gas fields in a Central Asian Country in 1993. Both Dick Cheney and Condoliza Rice have been instrumental in these dealings. The energy in this region is land locked. Afghanistan was the best route for pipelines to get the energy out to the Arabian Sea and over to Pakistan and India
ENRON ties in because Enrons Flagship Project in Dabhol India was a huge gas fired power plant that couldn't run without natural gas from these pipeline projects. Enron was also involved in getting the energy out of Central Asian countries.
Interesting note: a Chevron oil tanker was named "The Condoleeza Rice" until she was put in charge of the National Security Agency in 2001.
Here's a summary of FACTS that connect September 11th to Energy
The Importance of Afghanistan
- Afghanistan the "best route for a critical pipeline (which Oil Companies and Enron required)
- The Taliban being invited to Texas in 1997 to negotiate this pipeline deal.
- Corporate and government support given to the Taliban so they could control Afghanistan and stabilize the pipeline route.
- Historic energy deals since 1993 in the 'stans with both Chevron (Chevron-Texaco) Enron and CentGas trying to get the "land locked" oil and gas out of the 'stans.
- Cheney and Rice both instrumental in setting up Chevrons famous deal.
- Cheney on the Kazakhstan Oil Advisory Board
- Cheney CEO of Haliburton (an oil and military service giant)
- Chevron so pleased they named an oil tanker after Condoleeza Rice.
- Amerada Hess (US) & Delta Oil (Saudi Arabia) aka partnered to finance this trans afghan pipeline.
- The owner of Delta Oil accused of financing terrorists.
- The Director of Hess (Thomas Kean) appointed as Chair of the 9/11 Commission
April 1993, Chevron concluded a historic $20 billion, 50/50 joint venture deal with Kazakhstan to create the TENGIZCHEVOIL joint venture to develop the Tengiz oil field, estimated to contain 6-9 billion barrels of oil. [DOE/EIA Reports on the Caspian - May 17, 2000 - Page 9]
November 18-20, 1993: Stalinist party boss, Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan visited Washington and Houston November 18-20 and signed contracts with Texaco, Mobil, Chevron and other US oil companies which are worth a staggering $600 billion over the next 40 years During his Washington visit, Nazarbayev was honored at a private dinner in the exclusive Metropolitan Club, hosted by longtime democratic Party wheeler-dealer Robert Strauss, (of Law Firm: Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld) and attended by oil company CEOs, Vernon Jordan, Energy Secretary Federico Pena, and media personalities like Sam Donaldson--who led the toast to Nazarbayev--and William Safire. [Sagebrush Saloon – Chevrons War]
November 1993: The Indian government approves Enron's Dabhol power plant, located near Bombay on the west coast of India. Enron has invested $3 billion, the largest single foreign investment in India's history. Enron owns 65% of Dabhol. This liquefied natural gas powered plant is supposed to provide one-fifth of India's energy needs by 1997. [Asia Times, 1/81/01, Indian Express, 2/27/00] (Capacity over 2000 MegaWatts) (This power plant was built without a source of energy to run it. State Department and Council on Foreign Relations show the trans afghan pipeline headed towards it through Pakistan).
October 21, 1995: The oil company Unocal signs a contract with Turkmenistan to export $8 billion worth of natural gas through a $3 billion pipeline which would go from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan. Political considerations and pressures allow Unocal to edge out a more experienced Argentinean company for the contract. Henry Kissinger, a Unocal consultant, calls it "the triumph of hope over experience." [Washington Post, 10/5/98]
June 24, 1996: The Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan signs a deal with Enron "that could lead to joint development of the central Asian nation's potentially rich natural gas fields." [Houston Chronicle, 6/25/96] The $1.3 billion venture teams Enron with the state companies of Russian and Uzbekistan. [Houston Chronicle, 6/30/96]
July 8, 1996: The US government agrees to give $400 million to help Enron and a Uzbeki state company develop natural gas fields in the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan. [Oil and Gas Journal, 7/8/96]
August 13, 1996: Unocal and Delta Oil of Saudi Arabia come to agreement with state companies in Turkmenistan and Russia to to build a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan. [Unocal website, 8/13/96]
Let the News Articles Provide the Answers
December 4, 1997: Representatives of the Taliban are invited guests to the Texas headquarters of Unocal to negotiate their support for the pipeline. (Bill Clinton is President & George W. Bush is Governor of Texas at the time.) The Taliban appear to agree to a $2 billion pipeline deal, but will do the deal only if the US officially recognizes the Taliban regime. The Taliban meet with US officials, and the Telegraph reports that "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." A BBC regional correspondent says "the proposal to build a pipeline across Afghanistan is part of an international scramble to profit from developing the rich energy resources of the Caspian Sea." [BBC, 12/4/97, Telegraph, 12/14/97] FTW
Unocal, the Houston-based company bidding to build the 876-mile pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan, invited the Taliban to visit them in Texas...The men, who are accustomed to life without heating, electricity or running water, were amazed by the luxurious homes of Texan oil barons. The hardline fundamentalists - who have banned women from working and girls from going to school - asked Mr Miller about his Christmas tree." The Taliban met with State Department officials during the visit. [The Taliban, the US and the Resources of Central Asia]
News articles clearly state that Unocal brought the Taliban to Texas for pipeline negotiations.
Why were Oil Companies, Unocal, Enron, the U.S. and other governments helping the Taliban?
September 1995: After suffering military reversals in mid-1995, the Taliban re-armed and reorganised with Pakistani assistance and in September 1995 entered Herat, effectively clearing the road from Pakistan to Central Asia. The following month, Unocal signed its pipeline deal with Turkmenistan. [The Taliban, the US and the resources of Central Asia]March 1996, US senator Hank Brown, a supporter of the Unocal project, visited Kabul and other Afghan cities. He met with the Taliban and invited them to send delegates to a Unocal-funded conference on Afghanistan in the US. In the same month, the US also exerted pressure on the Pakistani government to ditch its arrangements with Bridas and back the American company.{The Taliban the US and the Resources of Central Asia]
Here's the answer to the question from above
September 27, 1996: The Taliban conquer Kabul [AP, 8/19/02], establishing control over much of Afghanistan. The oil company Unocal is hopeful that the Taliban will stabilize Afghanistan, and allow its (gas) pipeline plans to go forward. In fact, "preliminary agreement [on the pipeline] was reached between the [Taliban and Unocal] long before the fall of Kabul." "Oil industry insiders say the dream of securing a pipeline across Afghanistan is the main reason why Pakistan, a close political ally of America's, has been so supportive of the Taliban, and why America has quietly acquiesced in its conquest of Afghanistan." [Telegraph, 10/11/96]
October 1997 Unocal set up the Central Asian Gas Pipeline (CentGas) consortium to build the (natural gas) pipeline. Construction was scheduled to begin in 1998. [DOE/EIA Reports on the Caspian 5/17/00 Page 64]
October 27, 1997: Halliburton, (Dick Cheney as CEO) announces a new agreement to provide technical services and drilling for Turkmenistan, a country in Central Asia. The press release also mentions that "Halliburton has been providing a variety of services in Turkmenistan for the past five years." On the same day, a consortium to build a pipeline through Afghanistan is formed. It's called CentGas, and the two main partners are Unocal and Delta Oil of Saudi Arabia. [Halliburton press release, 10/27/97, CentGas press release, 10/27/97]
December 14, 1997: Unocal has hired the University of Nebraska to train 400 Afghani teachers, electricians, carpenters and pipefitters in anticipation of using them for their pipeline in Afghanistan. 150 students are already attending classes. Unocal, with the support of Washington, continued to actively woo the Taliban leaders who, in an effort to obtain the most lucrative deal, were playing the American company off against Bridas. Unocal provided nearly $1 million to set up the Centre for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Omaha as a front for an aid program in Taliban-held Kandahar. The main outcome of the company’s "aid" was a school to train the pipefitters, electricians and carpenters needed to construct its pipelines. [Telegraph, 12/14/97 , The Taliban, the US and the Resources of Central Asia]
Why did the V.P. of an oil company (and Future Ambassador to Afghanistan) asks Congress for a Regime Change in Afghanistan in 1998? (Why was he later appointed as Special Ambassador to Afghanistan)
February 12, 1998: Unocal Vice President John J. Maresca - (later to become a Special Ambassador to Afghanistan) - testifies before the House of representatives that until a single, unified, friendly government is in place in Afghanistan the trans-Afghani pipeline will not be built. He suggests that with a pipeline through Afghanistan, the Caspian basin could produce 20 percent of all the non-OPEC oil in the world by 2010. [House International Relations Committee testimony, 2/12/98] FTW John J. Maresca clearly stating that the Taliban government should be removed and replaced by a government acceptable to his company. He argued that creation of a 42 inch pipeline across Afghanistan would yield a Western profit increase of 500% by 2015. http://www.house.gov/international_relations/105th/ap/wsap212982.htm http://cooperativeresearch.org/completetimeline/1990s/marescatestimony021298.htmlEarly 1998: Bill Richardson, the US Ambassador to the UN, meets Taliban officials in Kabul (all such meetings are technically illegal, because the US still officially recognizes the government the Taliban ousted as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan). US officials at the time call the pipeline project a "fabulous opportunity" and are especially motivated by the "prospect of circumventing Iran, which offered another route for the pipeline." [Boston Globe, 9/20/01]
March 1998 Unocal announced a delay in finalizing the pipeline project due to Afghanistan's continuing civil war [www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/afghan.html]
What Was Dick Cheney's Role ?
Was Enron in trouble because the situation in Afghanistan delayed the pipeline?
Was the historic Chevron-Kazakhstan deal in trouble because they couldn't get the energy out through Afghanistan?
June 1998: Businessweek reported that Dick Cheney (CEO of Halliburton) had been "courting politicians and business leaders through the booming Caspian Sea region in an all-out effort to secure key political ties with Azerbaijan and Kazakstan. Accounting for the world's third-largest oil reserves, the region is Cheney's best hope to secure big contracts for a long time to come." Dick Cheney helped broker the Chevron-Kazakhstan deal when he sat on the Kazakhstan Oil Advisory Board in the mid-'90s (Business Week 1998, Amarillo Globe-News, June 13, 1998)June 1998 (B): Enron's agreement to develop natural gas with the government of Uzbekistan is not renewed. Enron closes its office there. The reason for the "failure of Enron's flagship project" (a massive electric power plant in Dabhol India) , is the inability to get natural gas out of the region. The hope was to use a pipeline through Afghanistan, but "Uzbekistan is extremely concerned at the growing strength of the Taliban and its potential impact on stability in Uzbekistan, making any future cooperation on a pipeline project which benefits the Taliban unlikely." A $12 billion pipeline through China is being considered as one solution, but that wouldn't be completed until the end of the next decade at the earliest. [Alexander's Gas and Oil Connections, 10/12/98]
Did the terrorist attacks and Clintons response hurt the energy projects financially?
August 7, 1998: Terrorists bomb the US embassies in Africa (Kenya and Tanzania). The bomb in Nairobi, Kenya kills 213 people, including 12 US nationals, and injures more than 4,500. The bomb in Dar es Salaam kills 11 and injures 85. The attack is blamed on al-Qaeda. [PBS Frontline, 2001]August 9, 1998: The Taliban, have control over 90% of Afghanistan, including the entire pipeline route. CentGas, the consortium behind the gas pipeline that would run through Afghanistan, is now "ready to proceed. " However, the pipeline cannot be financed unless the government is officially recognized. "Diplomatic sources said the Taliban's offensive was well prepared and deliberately scheduled two months ahead of the next UN meeting" to decide if the Taliban should be recognized. [Telegraph, 8/13/98]
Aug. 20, 1998 Clinton ordered cruise missile attacks (75-80) on Afghanistan and Sudan targets--after bomb attacks on embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam [The US] blamed the bombings on Osama bin Laden, the former Saudi who it accuses of backing many attacks on US targets. http://www.independent.co.uk/stories/B0405918.html
August 22, 1998: Unocal announced that CentGas had not secured the financing necessary to begin the work, and on August 22, 1998, Unocal suspended construction plans due to the continuing civil war in Afghanistan. Unocal stressed that the pipeline project would not proceed until an internationally recognized government was in place in Afghanistan. While the governments of Turkmenistan and Pakistan, as well as the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan, have continued discussions on the route, there does not seem to be any near-term likelihood that it will be built. (DOE/EIA Reports on the Caspian 5/17/00 Page 64)
Why did the Clinton administration stop U.S. support of the pipeline project and tell the oil companies, you're on your own?
December 5, 1998: In the wake of the al-Qaeda US embassy attacks, the US gives up on putting a pipeline through Afghanistan. Unocal announces it's withdrawing from the CentGas pipeline consortium, and closing three of its four offices in Central Asia. A concern that Clinton will lose support among women voters for upholding the Taliban also plays a role in the cancellation. [New York Times, 12/5/98] FTWFeb 1999: "The one serious drawback companies have faced is getting the supplies to the right market, the energy-hungry Asian Pacific economies. Afghanistan---the only country with little oil---is by far the best route to transport the oil to Asia. Enron, the biggest contributor to the Bush-Cheney campaign of 2000, conducted the feasibility study for a US$2.5 billion trans-Caspian gas pipeline which is being built under a joint venture agreement signed in February 1999 between Turkmenistan, Bechtel and General Electric Capital Services." www.moles.org/ProjectUnderground/drillbits/6_08/1.html
April 30, 1999: Afghanistan, Pakistan, & Turkmenistan reactivated the gas pipeline project excluding (Unocal / CentGas) US interests www.afghanonlineforum.com/news/1999/april/apr30b1999.htm
Oct 1999 - The Department of Defense (DOD) reassigned senior command authority over American forces in Central Asia from the Pacific Command to the Central Command. Central Asia had once been viewed as a peripheral concern, a remote edge of the Pacific Command's main areas of responsibility (China, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula). But the region, which stretches from the Ural Mountains to China's western border, has now become a major strategic prize, because of the vast reserves of oil and natural gas thought to lie under and around the Caspian Sea. Since the Central Command already controls the U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region, its assumption of control over Central Asia means that this area will now receive close attention from the people whose primary task is to protect the flow of oil to the United States and its allies. Michael Klare (Foreign Affairs May/June 2001 ).
December 20, 1999: The BBC explains one reason why the Northern Alliance has been able to hold out for so long in its civil war against the Taliban in Afghanistan: "Iran has stirred up the fighting in order to make sure an international oil pipeline [goes] through its territory and not through Afghanistan." [BBC, 12/20/99]
Why did Enron support Bush in the 2000 Presidential Election?
April 1999 Ken Lay sends letters to executives asking for contributions to the Bush campaign, including what some call a menacing reference to compensation as highly paid employees. More than 100 other Enron executives, and many spouses, will give "hard money" contributions to Bush, much of it during the campaign's critical early money phase. Some will acknowledge in interviews that they gave solely because they got Lay's pointed letter. The contributions help Lay fulfill his commitment as a Bush "Pioneer," the campaign's term for its top rainmakers. Bush will collect nearly $114,000 in individual and political action committee contributions from Enron in 1999-2000 ("Hard Money, Strong Arms And 'Matrix'", http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51802-2002Feb9.html )July 4, 1999: With the chances of a pipeline deal with the Taliban looking increasingly unlikely, the US government (Clinton) finally issues an executive order prohibiting commercial transactions with the Taliban. [Executive Order, 7/4/99]
September 3, 1999: The spread of Islamic fundamentalist insurgency north from Afghanistan threatens the rich oil resources of the Caspian Basin, which multinational corporations hope to massively exploit in the 21st century. The key contract was signed between Kazakhstan and Chevron in 1993, granting the company a stake in all oil development there (RFE Newsline, Sept. 3, 1999).
April 17, 2000: Although the Taliban control 95% of Afghan territory, only the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia had recognized the Taliban government as of late 1998. Afghan support for Osama bin Laden, and the recent U.S. bombing raids on his suspected strongholds in Afghanistan, also have reduced the likelihood for international financing of the project." (DOE/EIA Reports on the Caspian 5/17/00)
Why did Bush Administration Meet with the Taliban after the 2000 election?
February 9, 2001: Bush has been in office a matter of days, when secret pipeline negotiations with the Taliban have begun. The new administration has already twice threatened the Taliban that the US would hold the Taliban responsible for any al-Qaeda attack. But, fearful of ending those negotiations, the US does not retaliate against either the Taliban or known bin Laden bases in Afghanistan in the manner Clinton did in 1998. [Washington Post, 1/20/02]April 2001 (D): A report commission by former US Secretary of State James Baker entitled "Strategic Energy Policy Challenges For The 21st Century" is submitted to Vice President Cheney this month. The report says the "central dilemma" for the US administration is that "the American people continue to demand plentiful and cheap energy without sacrifice or inconvenience." "the United States remains a prisoner of its energy dilemma," "need for military intervention" to secure its oil supply. It argues that Iraq needs to be overthrown so the US can control its oil. [Sunday Herald, 10/5/02] the US should "Investigate whether any changes to US policy would quickly facilitate higher exports of oil from the Caspian Basin region... the exports from some oil discoveries in the Caspian Basin could be hastened if a secure, economical export route could be identified swiftly." [Strategic Energy Policy Challenges For The 21st Century, 4/01]
"Anticipated growth in the use of natural gas--in considerable part engendered as a fuel for electric power stations--raises a new series of geopolitical issues, leading to new political alignment" --- "The potential for armed conflict in energy-producing regions will remain high. Early in the twenty-first century, as a result, a weakening of U.S.alliance relationships in Europe, the PersianGulf, or Asia could have major impacts on global energy security. U.S.concerns over the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the desire to promote democratization and market liberalization around theWorld will also have a significant effect on key energy exporters. The future viability of the energy-producing states in the Caspian and Central Asia will be shaped by the competing objectives or Interests of Russia, the United States, and adjacent regional powers." [quotes from Strategic Energy Policy Challenges For The 21st Century]
May 15, 2001 Regarding the placement of the Unocal Pipeline, a U.S. Official delivered this ultimatum to the Taliban (via the Pakistani delegation acting as their interlocutors): "Either you accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury you under a carpet of bombs." (Ref: Jean-Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie in "Forbidden Truth") (Book's Preface online-pdf format)
The Taliban visits to Washington continued up to a few months prior to the September 11 attacks. The State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research's South Asian Division maintained constant satellite telephone contact with the Taliban in Kandahar and Kabul. Washington permitted the Taliban to maintain a diplomatic office in Queens, New York headed by Taliban diplomat Abdul Hakim Mojahed. In addition, U.S. officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca, who is also a former CIA officer, visited Taliban diplomatic officials in Islamabad. [The Blacklisted Journalist 4/1/02]
August 2, 2001: Christina Rocca, the Director of Asian Affairs at the State Department, secretly meets the Taliban ambassador in Islamabad, apparently in a last ditch attempt to secure a pipeline deal. Rocca was previously in charge of contacts with Islamic guerrilla groups at the CIA, and oversaw the delivery of Stinger missiles to Afghan mujaheddin in the 1980's. [Irish Times, 11/19/01, Salon, 2/8/02, Bin Laden: The Forbidden Truth, Guillaume Dasquié and Jean-Charles Brisard, released 11/11/01 (the link is an excerpt containing Chapter 1)] FTW
September 9, 2001: A plan to remove al-Qaeda from the face of the Earth" is placed on Bush's desk for his signature. The plan deals with all aspects of a war against al-Qaeda, ranging from diplomatic initiatives to a military invasion in Afghanistan. According to NBC News reporter Jim Miklaszewski, the "directive outlines essentially the same war plan ... put into action after the Sept. 11 attacks. The administration most likely was able to respond so quickly to the attacks because it simply had to pull the plans 'off the shelf.'" Bush was expected to sign it but still hadn't done so by 9/11. Sandy Berger, Clinton's National Security Advisor, has stated, "You show me one reporter, one commentator, one member of Congress who thought we should invade Afghanistan before September 11 and I'll buy you dinner in the best restaurant in New York City." In
September 11, 2001: Four planes are hijacked, two crash into the WTC, one into the Pentagon, and one crashes into the Pennsylvania countryside. At least 3,000 people are killed.
October 7, 2001: Military operations with aerial bombardment began in Afghanistan [CNN]
"You show me one reporter, one commentator, one member of Congress who thought we should invade Afghanistan before September 11 and I'll buy you dinner in the best restaurant in New York City."
(Sandy Berger, National Security Advisor)
"To be truthful about it, there was no way we could have got the public consent to have suddenly launched a campaign on Afghanistan but for what happened on September 11."
(British Prime Minister Tony Blair)
Oct. 17 2001, The Securities and Exchange Commission sent a letter to Enron asking for information about the hundreds of millions of dollars in third-quarter losses.
October 23, 2001 Arthur Andersen's, David B. Duncan called an urgent meeting to organize an ``expedited effort'' to destroy documents. Two weeks later a desperate e-mail says ``Stop the shredding.'' A day before that, Andersen had received a federal subpoena for the documents... , Andersen said, a few days after he learned that the SEC had requested information.
July 2002, British Prime Minister Tony Blair states: "To be truthful about it, there was no way we could have got the public consent to have suddenly launched a campaign on Afghanistan but for what happened on September 11." [Cooperativeresearch.org]
Why did Bush appoint a paid oil company consultant (Hamid Karzai) to run Afghanistan after the invasion?
December 22, 2001: Afghani Prime Minister Hamid Karzai and his transitional government takes power in Afghanistan. It was revealed a few weeks before that he had been a paid consultant for Unocal, as well as Deputy Foreign Minister for the Taliban. [Le Monde, 12/13/01, CNN, 12/22/01] FTW(Hamid) Karzai (was) the leader of the southern Afghan Pashtun Durrani tribe, (and) was a member of the mujaheddin that fought the Soviets during the 1980s. He was a top contact for the CIA and maintained close relations with CIA Director William Casey, Vice President George Bush, and their Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) Service interlocutors. Later, Karzai and a number of his brothers moved to the United States under the auspices of the CIA. Karzai continued to serve the agency's interests, as well as those of the Bush Family and their oil friends in negotiating the CentGas deal, according to Middle East and South Asian sources. [The Blacklisted Journalist 4/1/02]January 23, 2002: recent meetings between U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Wendy Chamberlain and that country's oil minister Usman Aminuddin indicate the pipeline project is international Project Number One for the Bush administration. Chamberlain, who maintains close ties to the Saudi ambassador to Pakistan (a one-time chief money conduit for the Taliban), has been pushing Pakistan to begin work on its Arabian Sea oil terminus for the pipeline… U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan….guarding pipeline construction … Karzai's ties with UNOCAL and the Bush administration are..why the CIA pushed him for Afghan leader over rival Abdul Haq, the assassinated former mujaheddin leader from Jalalabad, and the leadership of the Northern Alliance, seen by Langley as being too close to the Russians and Iranians. Haq had no apparent close ties to the U.S. oil industry and, as both a Pushtun and a northern Afghani, was popular with a wide cross-section of the Afghan people, including the Northern Alliance. Those credentials likely sealed his fate. (Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG) http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MAD201A.html
Why did Bush appoint another Oil Company Consultant (Zalamy Khalilzad) as special envoy to Afghanistan?
January 1, 2002: President Bush appoints Zalamy Khalilzad as a special envoy to Afghanistan. [BBC, 1/1/02] Khalilzad, a former employee of Unocal, also wrote op-eds in the Washington Post in 1997 supporting the Taliban regime, back when Unocal was hoping to work with the Taliban. FTW(Zalamy) Khalilzad, a fellow Pashtun and the son of a former government official under King Mohammed Zahir Shah, was, in addition to being a consultant to the RAND Corporation, a special liaison between UNOCAL and the Taliban government. Khalilzad also worked on various risk analyses for the project. Khalilzad's efforts complemented those of the Enron Corporation, a major political contributor to the Bush campaign. Enron, which recently filed for bankruptcy in the single biggest corporate collapse in the nation's history, conducted the feasibility study for the CentGas deal. Vice President Cheney held several secret meetings with top Enron officials, including its Chairman Kenneth Lay, earlier in 2001. These meetings were presumably part of Cheney's non-public Energy Task Force sessions. A number of Enron stockholders, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, became officials in the Bush administration. In addition, Thomas White, a former Vice Chairman of Enron and a multimillionaire [The Blacklisted Journalist 4/1/02]
What Happened to the Pipeline Plans After U.S. Military Action in Afghanistan?
January 25, 2002: Former Enron Vice Chairman John Clifford Baxter is found dead on January 25, 2002)February 8, 2002: Afghanistan's interim leader Hamid Karzai says he and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf have agreed to revive a plan for a trans-Afghan gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan. A consortium led by Unocal had originally aimed to build the $1.9 billion, 1,400-km (875-mile) pipeline to run from gas-rich Turkmenistan via northern Afghanistan. But in August 1998 Unocal halted development of the project after U.S. forces fired missiles at guerrilla camps in Afghanistan in the wake of bomb attacks on two U.S. embassies in Africa. ("Pakistan, Afghan leaders agree to revive pipeline", http://www.afgha.com/article.php?sid=12243&mode=thread&order=0 )
February 9, 2002: Pakistani President Musharraf and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai announce their agreement to "cooperate in all spheres of activity" including the proposed Central Asian ( through Afghanistan) pipeline, which they call "in the interest of both countries." [Irish Times, 2/9/02] FTW
February 9, 2002: "I also find it to be 'extraordinary circumstances' when a top [Enron] executive commits suicide,voluminous documents are shredded and witness after witness takes the Fifth Amendment. And in my 35 years in the Senate, I have never witnessed a corporation so extraordinarily committed to buying government." In a New York Times editorial, Senator Ernest Hollings (D-SC), calls for a special counsel to be appointed to investigate Enron. ("Time for a Special Counsel", nytimes.com)
October 18, 2002 (B): "The massive mothballed Dabhol power project that bankrupt US energy company Enron Corp. built in western India could be running within a year, with a long-standing dispute over power charges close to being renegotiated, a government official said." Dabhol is the largest foreign investment project in India's history. Despite reorganizing from a bankruptcy, Enron still holds a controlling 65 percent stake in the Dabhol Power Co., while General Electric Co. and Bechtel Corp. hold 10 percent each. The Maharashtra State Electricity Board holds the remaining 15 percent. [AP, 10/18/02]
Dec 25, 2002 Trans-Afghan pipeline project moving forward, faces risks Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai, Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf and Turkmenistan's Suparmurat Niyazov - are scheduled to gather December 26-27 in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat -- the 1,500-kilometer-long pipeline, stretching from Turkmenistan to Pakistan, would cost upwards of $2 billion to build, and would be capable of transporting about 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually. The trans-Afghan pipeline is crucial for the future of the Turkmenistan gas market -- ADB and World Bank are expected to provide the bulk of the financing for the Trans-Afghan pipeline project -- The US Agency for International Development (USAID), the international aid agency of the US State Department, is playing a role in the pipeline project, as well. [12/26/02 Daily Times - Pakistan]
December 27, 2002: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan sign an agreement for the building of the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline, a US$3.2 billion project that has been delayed for many years. [BBC, 12/27/02, CNN, 12/26/02] A study by the Asian Development Bank stated that the pipeline would move natural gas from Turkmenistan's huge Dauletabad-Donmez fields to the Pakistani port city of Gwadar. The pipeline was originally launched in 1997, but was abandoned when a consortium led by UNOCAL withdrew over fears of being seen as supporting the Taliban and because the US launched missile attacks on Afghanistan in 1999. The Afghan, Pakistani and Turkmen leaders relaunched the project in May 2002. UNOCAL has denied it is interested in returning to Afghanistan. Skeptics say the project would require an indefinite foreign military presence in Afghanistan. [CNN, 12/26/02, BBC, 5/30/02]
February 22, 2005: John McCain said that U.S. bases in Afghanistan should be permanent. After talks with Hamid Karzai, Hillary Clinton said U.S. support for Afghanistan was in the interest of both countries. [2/22/05 Reuters]
So.........why were the Taliban invited guests to Texas in 1997 ?
December 4, 1997: Representatives of the Taliban are invited guests to the Texas headquarters of Unocal to negotiate their support for the pipeline. (George W. Bush is Governor of Texas at the time.) The Taliban appear to agree to a $2 billion pipeline deal, but will do the deal only if the US officially recognizes the Taliban regime. The Taliban meet with US officials, and the Telegraph reports that "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." A BBC regional correspondent says "the proposal to build a pipeline across Afghanistan is part of an international scramble to profit from developing the rich energy resources of the Caspian Sea." [BBC, 12/4/97, Telegraph, 12/14/97] FTW
Source - http://www.heartson.com/Politics/background.html
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