July 16,2001 -- The Washington Post
It has become clear in the past few months that the United States must overhaul its diplomacy toward the abject yet dangerous country of Afghanistan. The stakes have become too high to maintain a policy that is not working.
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A federal court confirmed that Osama bin Laden was the mastermind behind the bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa by convicting four of his operatives for those crimes. Bin Laden, who continues to plot against Americans from Afghanistan, almost certainly ordered the bombing of the USS Cole, which makes him responsible for more American deaths in the past eight years than any other foreign actor. Ahmad Ressam, an Afghanistan-trained operative who was apprehended bringing bomb material into the United States before the millennium, testified this month that his target was Los Angeles International Airport -- a clear sign of these terrorists' desire to attack Americans at home.
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Now the United States and its partners have an opportunity to force change upon the Taliban and perhaps clear the way for its removal. Support for the group has waned in Afghanistan as the modicum of stability it brought to the country has been overshadowed by deprivation, relentless military campaigning and oppressive governance. Regional experts point to a growing number of disenchanted local and tribal leaders. By demonstrating a serious concern for the people of Afghanistan, the West can expose fissures in the Taliban and create a constituency for change.
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This is an appropriate issue for the G-8. All members except Japan have arrested bin Laden personnel operating within their borders, fear terrorist attacks and share an interest in Asian stability.
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Afghanistan's terrorists continue to pose the most dangerous threat today to American lives, and Afghanistan's people are on the verge of disaster. It is time to turn off the policy autopilot and move Afghanistan up on the agenda.
At the time, the president and vice-president were undoubtedly consumed with what they considered to be more urgent matters.
Rewind the clock to 1996 and pick up on some intriguing elements of a 5-year story from 1996-2001 story from The Fraudulent War by Richard Behans:
In late 1996 ... the Bridas Corporation of Argentina signed a contract with both of Afghanistan's political forces, the Taliban and General Dostum of the Northern Alliance, to build the Trans Afghanistan Pipeline. (pg 56)
Unocal, fought Bridas' efforts and success at every turn, hiring a number of consultants in addition to Mr. Kissinger: Hamid Karzai, Richard Armitage and Zalmay
Khalilzad. The latter two men would be prominent members of the Project for the New American Century. In 2001, Mr. Armitage would become Deputy Secretary of State in the Bush Administration. (pg 57)
Unocal hosted Taliban leaders at its headquarters in Texas and in Washington D.C., seeking to have the Bridas contract voided. The Taliban refused. Mr. John J. Maresca, a Vice President of Unocal, testified to the House Committee on International Relations on February 12, 1998. He asked to have the Taliban removed from power in Afghanistan, and for a stable government to be installed instead.
(pg 58)
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Unocal's pipeline prospects declined further on October 12, 2000. Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda struck again. The USS Cole was bombed in the Yemeni port of Aden, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39. (pg 61)
[After the 2000 election] Unocal's fortunes improved dramatically. In direct contravention of the Clinton Executive Order, the Bush Administration itself immediately resumed negotiations with the Taliban. In exchange for a package of foreign aid, the Administration sought secure and exclusive access to the Caspian Basin for American companies. (The Enron Corporation also was eyeing a pipeline, to feed its proposed power plant in India.) The Bridas contract might still be voided. (pg 65)
