- It has finally happened. American imperialism has begun
its unilateral war against Afghanistan.
-
- Ominously, it has formally notified the U.N. Security
Council that the military operations would expand beyond Afghanistan. Other
countries would be targeted. It is a greater tragedy that this ``war
against
terrorism'' will consume innocent lives in gruesome proportions. Is all
this being done really to exterminate terrorism?
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- Before we answer this question, it is necessary to
reiterate
that the perpetrators of the horrendous attacks in New York and Washington
on September 11 must be brought to book. This, however, must be done, as
many countries in the world had voiced, on the basis of unquestionable
evidence in accordance with international laws and under the auspices of
the United Nations. The U.S. and its President, Mr. George W. Bush, by
launching attacks on Afghanistan have dismissed with imperialist arrogance
and contempt, this widely-held international opinion.
-
- For appearances sake, ``evidence'' was shared with
trusted
U.S. allies - Britain and Pakistan. Mr. Tony Blair made a mockery of
sharing
this ``evidence'' with the British Parliament by stating that this is not
to be judged on a strictly legal basis. In a much-publicised live press
conference, Gen. Pervez Musharraf echoed Mr. Blair in stating that it was
immaterial whether the ``evidence'' would stand legal scrutiny. The issue,
according to him, was that ``evidence'' points towards Osama bin
Laden.
-
- Once the initial shock and hysteria gave way to reason,
it became clear that the U.S. was using, in a diabolic way, this human
tragedy to further its imperialist hegemony worldwide and to invoke a more
draconian domestic rule by curtailing democratic rights and freedom in
the name of combating terrorism. The crucial element in this strategy of
zeroing in on Osama bin Laden, however, goes largely unnoticed.
-
- Afghanistan occupies the central position in the U.S.
strategy for the economic control of the oil and gas resources in the
entire
Middle East. The U.S. currently imports 51 per cent of its crude oil -
19.5 million barrels daily. The Energy Information Administration estimates
that by 2020, the U.S. will import 64 per cent of its crude - 25.8 million
barrels a day. Caspian region oil reserves might be the third largest in
the world (after Western Siberia and the Persian Gulf) and, within the
next 15 to 20 years, may be large enough to offset Persian Gulf oil.
Caspian
Sea oil and gas are not the only hydrocarbon deposits in the region.
Turkmenistan's
Karakum Desert holds the world's third largest gas reserves - three
trillion
cubic meters - and has six billion barrels of estimated oil reserves.
Current
estimates indicate that, in addition to huge gas deposits, the Caspian
basin may hold as much as 200 billion barrels of oil - 33 times the
estimated
holdings of Alaska's North Slope and a current value of $4 trillion. It
is enough to meet the U.S.' energy needs for 30 years or more. The presence
of these oil reserves and the possibility of their export raises new
strategic
concerns for the U.S. and other Western industrial powers. As oil companies
build oil pipelines from the Caucasus and Central Asia to supply Japan
and the West, these strategic concerns gain military implications.
-
- Before we proceed further, it is necessary to remind
ourselves that both Mr. Bush and the Vice-President, Mr. Dick Cheney, were
intimately connected with the U.S. oil industry, serving as senior
executives
in many companies. Jon Flanders, in an article, ``The World Trade Center
attack... Caspian Oil and Gas and the Afghanistan Pipeline Connection'',
quotes Michael Klare, author of the book ``Resource Wars'', which has a
major focus on the oil resources in the Caspian region, who in a recent
interview to ``Radio Free Europe'' has said: ``We (the U.S.) view oil as
a security consideration and we have to protect it by any means necessary,
regardless of other considerations, other values''.
-
- The U.S. Government Energy Information factsheet on
Afghanistan
dated December 2000 says that: ``Afghanistan's significance from an energy
standpoint stems from its geographic position as a potential transit route
for oil and natural gas exports from Central Asia to the Arabian Sea. This
potential includes proposed multi-billion dollar oil and gas export
pipelines
through Afghanistan.
-
- The Caspian Sea region has oil and gas resources worth
$4 trillion, according to the U.S. News and World Report. Mr. Cheney, as
CEO of Halliburton, a major player in the oil industry, a Fortune 200
company,
told oil industry executives in 1998, ``I cannot think of a time when we
have had a region emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant
as the Caspian''. The oil and gas from this region currently moves
northward
towards European markets. According to Mr. Bob Todor, executive
vice-president
of Unocal, the company that is leading an international consortium to
construct
the central Asian pipeline through Afghanistan, ``Western Europe is a tough
market. It is characterised by high prices for oil products, an aging
population,
and increasing competition from natural gas. Furthermore, the region is
fiercely competitive''.
-
- Among the many advantages of the Afghanistan route,
according
to Mr. Todor, is that it would terminate in the Arabian Sea, which is much
closer than the Persian Gulf or northern China to key Asian markets. The
pipeline becomes crucial for U.S. oil giants because it would allow them
to sell their oil in an expanding and highly prospective Asian market.
The profits here are viewed to be substantially higher than in the European
market. But, the construction of this promising route can only begin if
and when an internationally recognised Government is formed in
Afghanistan.
-
- This is the crux of the matter. Though the oil companies
have the agreement of all warring groups in Afghanistan for the proposed
pipeline, the situation is far from being comfortable. The bombing of U.S.
Embassies in North Africa in 1998 allegedly by Osama bin Laden's terrorists
and the U.S. retaliatory response and the consequent bombing of Afghanistan
had created predictable complications. Even if the U.S. were to have
succeeded
in separating Osama bin Laden from the Taliban leadership and the
Government,
problems still continued with the uncertainty concerning the attitude of
the Northern Alliance. The pipeline would have been an easy target to blow
up by either side. Even threats could be used as instruments of blackmail
by Afghan groups.
-
- Hence, it becomes clear that to advance the interests
of its oil majors and to establish effective control over the oil resources
in the region, the U.S. requires a pliant Government in an unified
Afghanistan.
The proposal to bring back the ousted monarch, Zahir Shah, and the open
patronage being provided by the U.S. to the Northern Alliance reflects
this desire. Mr. Bush's candid admission that he had given the Taliban
two weeks to hand over Osama bin Laden was also an effort to, once again,
separate the two and to do business with the Taliban. This having failed,
now the effort seems to be to install a pliant Government at the expense
of destroying what remains of Afghanistan and possibly killing thousands
of innocent people.
-
- It is chilling to realise that it is such cold-blooded
pursuit of economic interests and profits that defines U.S. maneouvres
in the region and its attacks on Afghanistan. That all this should happen
in the name of grieving the death of nearly 7000 innocent American lives
is plain cruelty. The world today is being asked to side with the U.S.
in a fight against global terrorism. This is only a cover. The world is
being asked today, in reality, to side with the U.S. as it seeks to
strengthen
its economic hegemony. This is neither acceptable nor will be allowed.
We must forge together to state that we are neither with the terrorists
nor with the U.S.
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- Copyrights © 2001 The Hindu
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