US policy on Taliban influenced by oil - authors
Central Asia/Russia
atimes.com
By Julio Godoy
Asia Times
November 20, 2001
PARIS - Under the influence of United States oil companies, the
government of President George W Bush initially blocked intelligence
agencies' investigations on terrorism while it bargained with the Taliban on
the delivery of Osama bin Laden in exchange for political recognition and
economic aid, two French intelligence analysts claim.
In the book Bin Laden, la verite interdite (Bin Laden, the forbidden
truth), that was released recently, the authors, Jean-Charles Brisard and
Guillaume Dasquie, reveal that the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI)
deputy director John O'Neill resigned in July in protest over the
obstruction.
The authors claim that O'Neill told them that "the main obstacles to
investigate Islamic terrorism were US oil corporate interests and the role
played by Saudi Arabia in it". The two claim that the US government's
main objective in Afghanistan was to consolidate the position of the
Taliban regime to obtain access to the oil and gas reserves in Central Asia.
They affirm that until August, the US government saw the Taliban regime
"as a source of stability in Central Asia that would enable the construction
of an oil pipeline across Central Asia" from the rich oilfields in
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan, through Afghanistan and
Pakistan, to the Indian Ocean. Until now, says the book, "the oil and gas
reserves of Central Asia have been controlled by Russia. The Bush
government wanted to change all that."
But, confronted with Taliban's refusal to accept US conditions, "this
rationale of energy security changed into a military one", the authors claim.
"At one moment during the negotiations, the US representatives told the
Taliban, 'either you accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury you
under a carpet of bombs,'" Brisard said in an interview in Paris.
According to the book, the Bush administratino began to negotiate with the
Taliban immediately after coming into power in February. US and Taliban
diplomatic representatives met several times in Washington, Berlin and
Islamabad.
To polish their image in the United States, the Taliban even employed a
US expert on public relations, Laila Helms. The authors claim that Helms
is also an expert in the works of US intelligence organizations, for her
uncle, Richard Helms, is a former director of the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA).
The last meeting between US and Taliban representatives took place in
August, five weeks before the attacks on New York and Washington, the
analysts maintain. On that occasion, Christina Rocca, in charge of Central
Asian affairs for the US government, met the Taliban ambassador to
Pakistan in Islamabad.
Brisard and Dasquie have long experience in intelligence analysis. Brisard
was until the late 1990s director of economic analysis and strategy for
Vivendi, a French company. He also worked for French secret services,
and wrote for them in 1997 a report on the now famous Al-Qaeda
network, headed by bin Laden.
Dasquie is an investigative journalist and publisher of Intelligence Online, a
respected newsletter on diplomacy, economic analysis and strategy,
available through the Internet.
Brisard and Dasquie draw a portrait of the closest aides to Bush, linking
them to the oil business. Bush's family has a strong oil background, as do
some of his top aides. From Vice President Dick Cheney, through the
director of the National Security Council Condoleezza Rice, to the
ministers of commerce and energy, Donald Evans and Stanley Abraham,
all have for long worked for US oil companies.
Cheney was until the end of last year president of Halliburton, a company
that provides services for oil industry; Rice was between 1991 and 2000
manager for Chevron; Evans and Abraham worked for Tom Brown,
another oil giant.
Besides the secret negotiations held between Washington and Kabul and
the importance of the oil industry, the book takes issue with the role played
by Saudi Arabia in fostering Islamic fundamentalism, in the personality of
bin Laden, and with the networks that the Saudi dissident built to finance
his activities.
Brisard and Dasquie contend that the US government's claim that it had
been prosecuting bin Laden since 1998. "Actually," Dasquie says, "the first
state to officially prosecute bin Laden was Libya, on the charges of
terrorism."
"Bin Laden wanted to settle in Libya in the early 1990s, but was hindered
by the government of Muammar Gaddafi," Dasquie claims. "Enraged by
Libya's refusal, bin Laden organized attacks inside Libya, including
assassination attempts against Gaddafi."
Dasquie singles out one group, the Islamic Fighting Group (IFG), reputedly
the most powerful Libyan dissident organization, based in London, and
directly linked with bin Laden. "Gaddafi even demanded Western police
institutions, such as Interpol, to pursue the IFG and bin Laden, but never
obtained cooperation," Dasquie says. "Until today, members of IFG openly
live in London."
The book confirms earlier reports that the US government worked closely
with the United Nations during the negotiations with the Taliban. "Several
meetings took place this year, under the arbitration of Francesc Vendrell,
personal representative of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to discuss
the situation in Afghanistan," says the book. "Representatives of the US
government and Russia, and the six countries that border with Afghanistan
were present at these meetings," it says. "Sometimes, representatives of
the Taliban also sat around the table."
These meetings, also called Six plus 2, because of the number of states
(six neighbors plus the US and Russia) involved, have been confirmed by
Naif Naik, former Pakistani minister for foreign affairs.
In a French television news program two weeks ago, Naik said that during
a Six plus 2 meeting in Berlin in July, the discussions turned around "the
formation of a government of national unity. If the Taliban had accepted
this coalition, they would have immediately received international economic
aid. And the pipelines from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan would have
come," he added.
Naik also claimed that Tom Simons, the US representative at these
meetings, openly threatened the Taliban and Pakistan. "Simons said, 'either
the Taliban behave as they ought to, or Pakistan convinces them to do so,
or we will use another option'. The words Simons used were 'a military
operation'," Naik claimed.
atimes.com
(Inter Press Service) |
