- Afghanistan Oil Pipeline
The Afghanistan Oil Pipeline was a project proposed by several oil companies to transport oil from
Azerbaijan andCentral Asia throughAfghanistan toPakistan orIndia .Central Asian Oil Pipeline Project
At the end of 1990s, the American
Unocal Corporation considered in addition to the Trans-Afghanistan Gas Pipeline building also a convert|1000|mi|km|-2 long bbl to t|1000000|klt=k|per=d|t_per=a oil pipeline to linkTürkmenabat (former Chardzou), Turkmenistan to Pakistan's Arabian Sea Coast. Through theOmsk (Russia) -Pavlodar (Kasakhstan) -Shymkent -Türkmenabat pipeline, it would provide a possible alternative export route for regional oil production from the Caspian Sea. The pipeline was expected to cost US$2.5 billion. However, due the high political risk and security concerns, this project was dismissed.cite web
url= http://www.newhumanist.com/oil.html
title= The Oil Connection: Afghanistan and Caspian Sea oil pipeline routes
publisher= The New Humaist
accessdate=2008-08-09]Conspiracy theory
Some critics have proposed that the real motive for invading Afghanistan was its importance as a conduit for oil pipelines from Azerbaijan to Afghanistan's neighboring countries.cite web
url= http://www.slate.com/?id=2059487
title= Pipe Dreams
author= Seth Stevenson
publisher= Slate
date = 2001-12-06
accessdate=2008-08-09] Others have argued that the pipeline was not a significant reason for the invasion of Afghanistan, firstly because most western governments and oil companies prefer an export route from the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan and Georgia and on to the Black Sea over one through Afghanistan. Bypassing Russia and Iran would break their collective monopoly on regional energy supplies.cite news
url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1626889.stm
title= Afghanistan: the pipeline war?
author= Seth Stevenson
publisher=BBC
author = Malcolm Haslett
date = 2001-10-29
accessdate=2008-08-09]References
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