[iwar] [fc:Taliban:.Portrait.of.a.Lunatic.Asylum.(egg.on.all.faces)]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-09-27 06:44:56

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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 06:44:56 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Taliban:.Portrait.of.a.Lunatic.Asylum.(egg.on.all.faces)]
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Note the reference to the gas pipeline ... the Great Game continues.

Thursday, September 27 5:37 PM SGT

Five years on, old allies turn on the Taliban

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Sept 27 (AFP) -

Five years ago the Taliban rolled into the Afghan capital Kabul,
proclaiming the world's purest Islamic state and setting itself on a
collision course with the international community. 

But back in 1996, few could have predicted the world would soon be bent
on the destruction of the militia, as diplomats, oil giants and donors
did their best to court the regime. 

Despite their barring of women from work and education, profiteering
from drug production and brutal implementation of rules on social
conduct, five years ago the Taliban were riding high. 

In 1997, Taliban officials were invited for trips to Texas by US oil
giant UNOCAL, and its competitor Bridas of Argentina took a turbaned
delegation on a tour of Buenos Aires. 

Both were hoping to win the contract to build a multi-billion dollar gas
pipeline from Turkmenistan to densely-popuated South Asia. 

It was all smiles when former US ambassador to the United Nations Bill
Richardson visited Afghanistan in 1998 for talks with the Taliban, also
centered on exploiting Central Asia's gas riches. 

The Taliban were seen as the latest episode in the regional Great Game
-- a strategic tug-of-war for influence that has been played out for
centuries on Afghan soil -- and they had Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the
United Arab Emirates and the United States on their side. 

European Union aid continued to pour into Taliban-controlled areas,
despite the restrictions that made reaching Kabul's starved widows
almost impossible. 

A queue of EU diplomats visited Kabul: only a few dared confront the
militia's human rights record. 

UN officials shrugged their shoulders after they renovated Kabul's
stadium only to see it used as a venue for weekly game-show style
executions. 

In 1998, the world body signed a memorandum of understanding with the
militia, recognising that the path to securing women's rights "needs to
be gradual."

Promoted by sympathisers as a group that would restore order to the
war-torn country and backed by Pakistan, the Taliban appeared
unstoppable. 

The people of Kabul were subject to beard inspections, prayer tests,
forced haircuts and draconian punishments.  Women were placed under
wraps, television and music banned, while the city began to starve. 

One Taliban official described the rules as "medicine for a city of
sinners."

But in 1998, the militia began to shift its priorities. 

Frustrated by the failure to win formal international recognition and
refusing to ease what it had said were "temporary" restrictions, an
internal battle for influence appeared to be going in favour of
hardliners. 

The word of the Taliban leader, the one-eyed Mullah Mohammad Omar, was
final, and their depleted ranks were filled by increasing numbers of
Pakistani and Arab volunteers while alleged Saudi-born terrorist Osama
bin Laden was rising in the ranks of decision makers. 

In trials of terrorists across the globe, the name "Afghanistan" was
springing up again and again. 

Drugs also continued to flow, and Afghanistan overtook Southeast Asia's
Golden Triangle as the world's leading heroin producer.  Any cuts in
production ordered by Mullah Omar merely pushed the prices -- and
profits -- up. 

Under UN sanctions, the Taliban waved goodbye to dreams of gas riches
and have since appeared almost determined to confront the international
community head on.  Bamian's ancient giant Buddhas were destroyed and
restrictions tightened. 

But after years of alarm over women's rights, the destruction of
Afghanistan's heritage, drugs and widespread human rights abuses, Bin
Laden's alleged attack on the US appears to have been the final straw. 

"Let's face it, constructive engagement didn't work," quipped a senior
United Nations official.  "It's true, we bent over backwards to
accomodate the Taliban.  Some say we bent over too far, but what was the
alternative, and who could have predicted this?"

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