The 'war' in Afghanistan is an ongoing act of resource piracy, corruption, international thievery. Oil and oil infrastructure remain front and center in the conflict.
Shadow governments, theocracy and resource piracy
by Monica Davis (muckracker)
It can be a cold, harsh, land, with mountains that touch the sky and repel invaders, terrible winters and a rough alpine terrain, which has been grinding foreign invaders and armies into dust for more than two thousand years. From Alexander the Great, to the Russian Communist Empire, to another wanna be conquer and world changer—the United States, the history of Afghanistan is bloody and long.
The Taliban want to turn the place into a medieval theocracy. The Americans say they want to bring democracy and “stability” to this ancient nation. International players, including the US want to get their hands on oil resources and infrastructure in the country, and, the Afghanis, well, what they want depends on who you talk to.
Many say the “government”, that is Hamid Karzai’s elected government doesn’t have much power beyond the confines of Kabul. The rest of the country is in the hands of various warlords, opium merchants, “freedom fighters,” and the Taliban. For those who were born in the country—such as the author of Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini, or members of various non-governmental organizations (NGOs), international assistance groups, and observers such as Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, the misery of Afghanistan is not something that is distant, or remote. Hosseini and Kelly know first hand, what is happening in Afghanistan.
Kelly, whom this reporter interviewed last month, says that we (the US) have an addiction to war, and when asked how she could justify saying the US is addicted to war, Kelley said that “if we are concerned about terrorism, the best way to counter terror is to establish relationships with other countries and people, where our definition of foreign policy is not based on an addiction to war.”
In terms of Afghanistan, which she and a group of pro-peace activists visited in November, she asks “Where does it end?” She believes war is a distraction and an addiction. “It seems to me as if we can not unhinge ourselves from this constant connection to war.”
Responding to the question of how much of our economy depends on the defense industry, she says defense spending could be reallocated to domestic infrastructure, new technology industry economic development, and domestic military base transformation. As far as the communities which depend on defense spending are concerned, she says “They should anticipate that they should not have to lose a single dollar, or move, or be disadvantaged because of the war. If you took the estimated $750,000,000,000 that it will take to pursue war in Afghanistan until 2013 and converted those military bases to places that could deal with the very real threats, like the “real terrorists”—those who are destroying our water, soil and air, and all of the things that are terrifying the next generation, if you were to use all of the inventive resources, talents and energies of those who are currently tied up in this war effort, we would be able, I think, to create a world for the next generation to thrive in. But, we are creating a wasteland for the next generation. We are mortgaging the future to prosecute today’s wars.”
In terms of cutting the safety net, cutting domestic spending, those who want to cut the deficit seem to have taken the “war” off the table. The trillions that have been spent, and the unknown vital resources that will continue to be spent on a self-fueling “War on Terror” seems to have been put on an altar, sacrosanct, inviolable, regardless of how much destruction it causes in terms of loss of life, squandered resources, and loss of respect around the world.
This is a sacred cow that so few are profiting from, at the expense of so many. Yet, it’s like the energizer bunny. The war sacred cow just keeps on going, and going, without running down, or exhausting resources—when everything else is on the table for downsizing or elimination: Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, education, infrastructure spending, housing assistance, food stamps, and so on. We are spending more on war than on healthcare, education.
Kelly says the spending on the “military-industrial-congressional-media complex” is an incestuous beast, where parts of the defense industry own radio, television, cable networks, and entertainment venues, as well as broadcast and print outlets. This includes the so called “public broadcasting networks”, which also depend on corporate and government sources. Critics say the “public broadcast networks/programming” are not independent of the hand that feeds them—government and defense-connected funders. Thus, hard hitting analysis and news stories are as rare on public broadcasting as it is in the rest of the media.
Speaking of the national media, Kelly says many of the nation’s media, including the so-call liberal media, are people who don’t “want to introduce into the discussion a critique of US defense policy because a lot of their funding comes from companies who are defense contractors. And they sometimes own the media companies, and that makes media often afraid to rock the boat and that is sad, and unfortunate for the general public, because the media they listen to has a conflict of interest about this war.”
She is of the firm believe that we are paying too much attention to war, at the expense of diplomacy and relationship building. “People do care about their children. I don’t think people want to live in a world that is increasingly militaristic. The 21st century is being dominated by war machines, military drones that use technology to prosecute war. Do we really think this increases our security—for instance: much of Pakistan was under water this year, suffering from horrible floods, and we were bombing that country, using drone warfare? Do we really think we were making friends here?”
When asked about Afghanistan in terms of normalcy—schools, markets, jobs, and roads Kelley noted that “Inside of Kabul you really find that most of the streets don’t look like roads. They are rutted areas and so many cars trying to travel these roads, it’s almost impossible to travel. And, in the outlying areas, it is very, very cold—electricity is sporadic, there aren’t many doctors, and literacy is horrible. Most of the people don’t have access to any kind of education. Eight hundred children die on a daily basis. The maternal death rate is horrible: 25,000 women die in childbirth every year. Logistics that is trying to get food supplies, medical supplies from one part of the country to another is a nightmare, but if you have a truckload of opium, you can get it anywhere you want in a day.”
Kelly notes that 95% of the world’s opium comes from Afghanistan, and there are some people making extraordinary amounts of money on opium. “Most of the crop is grown in the southern part of the country, where the US is prosecuting a fierce war against the drug farmers and terrorists who use drugs to buy weapons.”
Even worse, in our attempt to kill Taliban leaders, war critics say we’re just weeding out the weaker ones. The ones who are left are more dangerous than the terrorists we assassinated, blew up, or killed. And, there are so many of them, all claiming legitimacy, and willing to kill to claim it. According to Kelly, “In the provinces outside Kabul, there are shadow governments that come in at night and even tax the people—telling the people ‘we’re the ones who are in charge.’”
Some of Afghanistan’s expatriates, including author Khaled Hosseini, who has lived in the US for 30 years, return to the country from time to time, as reporters and authors, or business people, or to visit relatives. Hosseini, whose father was a diplomat, under the old king’s regime back in the 60s, says that the people in Afghanistan, like people all over the world, want what everyone else wants; peace, security, jobs and a good quality of life.
Unfortunately, they are at the mercy of an international military, political and extremist class who continue to fight for power: the warlords, drug lords, tribes, foreign invaders (like us, and the Russians, to name a few modern invaders), and the oil cartels (who want security for their oil pipeline.
In 2001, Columnist Bill Sardi wrote of a then rumor that was circulating about UNOCAL’s plans for the pipeline, and the connection between the building of the pipeline with an up tick in the international “concern” about women’s rights and oppression 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 Asiaoil and gas reserves and how they might shape USforeign 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, Kazakhstanand Russia. Routes for a pipeline were proposed that would transport oil on a 42-inch pipe southward thru Afghanistanfor 1040 milesto the Pakistancoast. Such a pipeline would cost about $2.5 billion and carry about 1 million barrels of oil per day. www.lewrockwell.com/orig/sardi7.html
Could it be that the so-called "coalition" was actually created to further the interests of several international players in the oil industry? Particularly those who have an interest in an Afghanistan oil pipeline?
(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, IndonesiaPetroleum, LTD. (INPEX) (Japan), ITOCHU Oil Exploration Co., Ltd. (Japan), Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. (Korea), the Crescent Group (Pakistan) and RAO Gazprom (Russia) (Source: www.lewrockwell.com/orig/sardi7.html)
Khaled Hosseini, knows something about Afghanistan, oil and politics. His father was a diplomat in the King’s service, and he’s been writing about the country of his birth for decades. Although he has made his home in the US for the past 30 years, the country of his birth remains dear to his heart and still occupies a part of his soul.
In essence, Hosseini says that his native country is not that different from any other place on Earth. People in Afghanistan want the same thing people in other countries want: to raise their children, enjoy their families and do their jobs like any other people from around the globe. Unfortunately, Afghanistan lies in the heart of a region that has been targeted by armies and would be emperors for two thousand years, and which now sits on some very oil-related real estate. Russia fought a war in this mountainous region and left with its tail between its legs—just as conquerors had been doing for more than two thousand years. Now, the US has the war bit between its teeth, and continues to delude itself that the “mission” is one which targets “extremism” and “terrorism.”
Turkmenistan on Saturday (12-11-2010) signed broad agreements with Afghanistan, India, and Pakistanat a summit on a transnational gas pipeline, though talks yielded few concrete details.
The 1,700-kilometre (1,050-mile) TAPI pipeline, Ashgabat's dream project that first appeared in 1995, has been on hold for many years due to the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.
The presidents of Turkmenistan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan met for the first time to discuss the project, while Indiawas represented by the country's Energy Minister Murli Deora.
They signed an intergovernmental agreement on the TAPI pipeline, with energy ministers signing a separate framework document on the project, but no deal was reached on future sales or the consortium for the future construction tender.
The TAPI pipeline aims to transport over 30 billion cubic metres of gas annually from the Dauletabad gas fields in southeast Turkmenistanand could turn to a cash cow for Afghanistanin transit fees. Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai assured that he would "put in efforts to ensure security both during construction and after completing the project." (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iZQiXml2FkrLTBjBhWGe4u6BxPUQ?docId=CNG.52397de5d
f64c519397daac1afa54385.561 )
We have convinced ourselves that that history, terrain, geology (oil), geography and native people have nothing to do with our desire for conquest, national rehabilitation (theirs, not ours) and geo-politics. Despite our “good intentions,” we are merely the latest in a multi-millennial list of would be conquerors and world changers.
History aside, we have convinced ourselves that, despite our tainted motives, we can plant democracy in a region that is replete with turbulent tribal history, religious and tribal tensions, and two thousand years of resisting invaders—not to mention our own tainted motives. Add to that, a vast disconnect between the urban areas—Kabul, Kandihar and the rest of the nation, to the mix and we have a recipe for volatility, which makes “planting democracy” more of a palliative excuse for a resource piracy and invasion than a reality for creating a stable, “democratic” governing system.
Author Monica Davis is an Indiana-based columnist, author, and activist. She writes extensively on energy, agriculture, and politics. Her author website is: http//www.lulu.com/davis4000_2000