[Peace-discuss] How could he possibly think that?

[C. G. Estabrook]

[No one in the American media thinks that.]

"President Karzai told his parliament that the U.S.-led NATO military coalition 
now in his country – being enlarged by land, sea, and air with every passing day 
– is close to finding itself looked upon in Afghanistan as an invasion force. 
That would lend even further support to the opinion held by many Afghans that 
the Taliban are fighting to save their country.

"He earlier had said that the United States has designs on Afghanistan’s 
sovereignty, planning permanent military bases there and the use of Afghan 
territory for a pipeline route that would avoid the ex-Soviet states while 
carrying Central Asian energy to ships in the Arabian Sea.

"Such negotiations reportedly did take place before 2001, after the Soviet 
invasion ended and when the Taliban initially governed Afghanistan. The Taliban 
government was approached by the American Unocal company (now part of Chevron), 
and Karzai is plausibly reported as having been a consultant to Unocal. He says 
he was working in association with the U.S. government at that time to defeat 
the Taliban government..."

-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.