Afghan pipeline and war

This video is called Prof. Noam Chomsky on American goals in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

I quote only very rarely on this blog from the news agency of the absolute monarchy Saudi Arabia.

However, today I do. Because today, it unveils to some extent, the real “reasons” behind the bloody war in Afghanistan.

That war is, unlike what war propagandists say, not about liberating women in Afghanistan. Their situation is as bad as under the previous Taliban regime.

That war is, unlike what war propagandists say, not about the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA. The Taliban leaders hardly looked beyond their own provincial borders, let alone Afghanistan’s national borders. They hardly knew where New York City was, let alone where the Twin Towers were.

That war is, unlike what war propagandists say, not about Osama bin Laden. Who was not in Afghanistan, but in United States ally Pakistan during the Afghan war. And who is dead now, though Afghan civilians and United States and other soldiers still keep dying. And United States, Canadian, and other taxpayers keep paying billions for the war.

Now, from MENAFN – Saudi Press Agency:

Turkmens plan trans-Afghan gas sale deal in May

05/05/2012

Senior officials in Turkmenistan said the energy-rich Central Asian nation

Turkmenistan is not just oil- and gas-rich. It is also a dictatorship. Never mind, the Pentagon says: it is our ally in the Afghan war. Being a dictatorship is only a problem if you quarrel with the United States establishment (and being a democracy and quarreling with the US establishment is a problem as well).

plans to sign a natural gas sales agreement with Afghanistan, Pakistan and India this month, AP reported.

The deal would mark a decisive move toward construction of a pipeline crossing the four nations that backers hope will meet energy demands across the region.

Two high-ranking officials, who cannot be named as they are not authorized to speak with the media, told The Associated Press this week they expect the agreement to be signed at an energy conference in Turkmenistan late May.

Progress on the project has to date been delayed by disagreement among participant nations on transit fees and the price for the gas.

It has been widely assumed that gas for the more than 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometer) pipeline will be sourced from the Dauletabad field in southern Turkmenistan.

An official from the state gas company said, however, that a portion of the fuel will eventually be drawn from the vast and yet-to-be developed South Yolotan field near the Afghan border.

The gas pipeline across Afghanistan, projected to ship 33 billion cubic meters a year, has been actively backed by the United States. It would give Turkmenistan a further export route for its copious energy reserves and generate revenue for Afghanistan.

Turkmen President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov has said Afghanistan could stand to earn more than $1 billion annually in transit fees.

If that money for Afghanistan materializes, then it would probably disappear into the pockets of a small corrupt clique who don’t care about the poor majority of Afghans. Like the Afghan Kabulbank scandal shows.

Construction begins on Afghan stretch of TAPI gas pipeline: here.

US-Afghan Pact Won’t End War – Or Special Operations Forces Night Raids. Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service News: “But the only substantive agreement reached between the U.S. and Afghanistan – well hidden in the agreements – has been to allow powerful U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) to continue to carry out the unilateral night raids on private homes that are universally hated in the Pashtun zones of Afghanistan…. The Obama administration’s success in obscuring those facts is the real story behind the ostensible story of the agreement”: here.

Leaving Afghanistan by Staying. David Swanson, War Is a Crime: “Obama is full of praise for U.S. troops, as if they’ve benefitted Afghanistan. And he’s full of concern for the suffering of U.S. troops and U.S. citizens…. ‘Neither Americans nor the Afghan people asked for this war,’ Obama said, forgetting that one of those two countries had invaded the other one and occupied it for over a decade. ‘The reason America is safe is because of you,’ Obama told U.S. troops, forgetting that the war has made our nation more hated around the world”: here.

Related articles

• China abandons Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, eyes TAPI
• Is India operating as NATO agent in Afghanistan?
• Turkmenistan urges acceleration of TAPI construction
• Turkmenistan, Pakistan, India Sign Trans-Afghan Gas Pipeline Deal

• US war drone kills Afghan child (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Rice: U.S. Will Not Apologize for Any Afghan War Mistakes (voanews.com)
• Obama Administration Extends Afghan War Through 2024 (VIDEO) (thelibertarianrepublic.com)
• Obama breaking pledge on Afghan war (rinf.com)
• White House will not publicly apologise for Afghan war mistakes – The Guardian (theguardian.com)
• 3 Canadian veterans from Afghan war found dead in a week. (brandonbourgaize.wordpress.com)