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grufty jim
grufty jim
1978 posts

dubya and the taliban?
Nov 07, 2001, 13:20
i'm not sure Dubya ever did meet with the Taliban. was he working for Unocal in 1996? i don't believe he was ever a senator either (he was governor of texas, certainly, but was he also in the senate?)

it is certainly possible that he met briefly with the Taliban representatives when they arrived in Texas to meet with Unocal (state visit, formal occasion, etc etc) but as far as i'm aware, the agenda of that visit was to discuss the plans for the Central Asia Gas pipeline project between Daulatabad (Turkmenistan) and Multan (Pakistan). i mention that project in my article, and really can't see it as a reason for the United States to get involved in a war... quite the opposite actually.

i should say that i feel it is very likely that the pakistan government will attempt (at some future date) to build a pipeline from the Turkmenistan gas fields to supply domestic demand. they will probably do this with the aid of Unocal's erstwhile partners; Delta Investments (about which company i could tell many a strange tale). but we're talking about a relatively minor project here, and one that i'm not sure is even technically practical - the landmines issue cannot be dismissed as easily as FourWinds thinks; mine clearance is a necessary operation before you send in the sort of heavy (and expensive) equipment required to lay a gas pipeline. and mine clearance is not cheap - you don't entrust your billion dollar investment and expensive equipment to a slip-shod security operation.

all that's not 100% relevant though - with all of the major investment going into shipping Caspian oil in precisely the opposite direction, for lots of very good reasons, i just don't see them fighting a war to change all that.
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