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146 TALIBAN DICTATORS AND OIL BARONS 147became the Viceroy of India in 1898. 5 These were expanding empires -the British pushing across India into Afghanistan and the Tsar's armiesconquering Central Asia.The centre of gravity for both powers was Afghanistan. The Britishfeared that a Russian thrust on Herat from the Turkmen region couldthreaten British Baluchistan, while Moscow gold could turn Kabul's rulersagainst the British. The Russians feared that the British would underminethem in Central Asia by supporting revolts by the Muslim tribes and therulers of Bukhara and Kokand. As it is today, the real battle was overcommunication links as both empires indulged in massive railway projects.The Russians built railway lines across Central Asia to their borderswith Afghanistan, Persia and China, while the British built railway linesacross India to their border with Afghanistan.Today's Great Game is also between expanding and contractingempires. As a weakened and bankrupt Russia attempts to keep a grip onwhat it still views as its frontiers in Central Asia and control the flow ofCaspian oil through pipelines that traverse Russia, the USA is thrustingitself into the region on the back of proposed oil pipelines which wouldbypass Russia. Iran, Turkey and Pakistan are building their own communicationlinks with the region and want to be the preferred route of choicefor future pipelines heading east, west or south. China wants to securestability for its restive Xinjiang region populated by the same Muslimethnic groups that inhabit Central Asia, secure the necessary energy tofuel its rapid economic growth and expand its political influence in acritical border region. The Central Asian states have their own rivalries,preferences and strategic imperatives. Looming above this is the fiercecompetition between American, European and Asian oil companies.But as in the nineteenth century, Afghanistan's instability and theadvancing Taliban were creating a new dimension to this global rivalryand becoming a significant fulcrum for the new Great Game. The statesand the companies had to decide whether to confront or woo the Talibanand whether the Taliban would impede or help pipelines from CentralAsia to new markets in South Asia.Afghanistan had held Central Asia in a tight embrace for centuries.The territory comprising modern day Tajikistan, southern Uzbekistan andnorthern Afghanistan was one contiguous territory for centuries, ruledintermittently by amirs or kings in Bukhara or Kabul. The Amir of Bukharadepended on Afghan mercenaries for his army. Persecuted tribalchiefs, bandits and mullahs sought sanctuary in each other's territories,crossing a non-existent border. (Thus Tajikistan's decision in 1997 tohand over the Kuliab airbase in southern Tajikistan to Ahmad ShahMasud so he could receive military supplies from Iran and Russia, wasbut a continuation of these past linkages.) Afghanistan's contiguity withCentral Asia came to an end after the 1917 Russian Revolution, whenthe Soviet Union sealed its borders with its southern Muslim neighbours.The reopening of these borders in 1991 heralded the start of the newGreat Game.Afghanistan today borders Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistanbut only Turkmenistan has large energy resources. Along the Pamirmountains Tajikistan's five million people share a rugged 640-mile borderwith Afghanistan, which is divided by the Amu Darya river. A quarter ofAfghanistan's population is Tajik. More Tajiks are scattered throughoutthe other CARs and another 200,000 live in China's Xinjiang province.The only major ethnic group in Central Asia which is not of Turkicorigin, the Tajiks are descended from the first Persian tribes who inhabitedCentral Asia between 1500 and 1000 BC, but were later pushed to theperipheries by a series of Turkic invasions from Mongolia.In ancient times, Tajikistan was the military and economic centre ofthe region. It acted as a gateway for the Silk Route and for Turkic invaderswho rode west into Iran, Russia and Europe and south into Afghanistanand India. Russia annexed the northern part of present day Tajikistan in1868 and it became a part of the province of Russia-controlled Turkestan.As the Great Game intensified, the British and Russians demarcated theborder between Afghanistan and Central Asia in 1884, when Russiaannexed southern Tajikistan.After Stalin created the five CARs in 1924-25 by arbitrarily drawinglines on a map, he handed over Bukhara and Samarkand, the two majorcentres of Tajik culture and history to Uzbekistan, creating a rivalrybetween the two Republics which has simmered ever since. Modern dayTajikistan represents none of the population or economic centres ofancient Tajik glories. Stalin also created the Autonomous Region ofGorno-Badakhshan in the Pamir mountains, which contains 44 per centof the land area of Tajikistan but only 3 per cent of the population.While the Tajiks are Sunni Muslims, Gorno-Badakhshan contains variousPamiri ethnic groups many of whom are Shia Muslims. They include theIsmaelis, a Shia sect and followers of the Agha Khan, who also inhabitthe contiguous Badakhshan region of Afghanistan.A few months after the 1917 Revolution, Muslim guerrilla groupssprang up across Central Asia to resist the Bolsheviks. These rebels werecalled Basmachis by the Bolsheviks, a derogative term meaning bandit.The movement stood for Islam, nationalism and anti-communism. Sixtyyears later the same inspiration motivated the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan.Determined to undermine Soviet power, the British helped the Basmachisin 1919, by paying Kabul's rulers to send camel caravans of armsand ammunition to the Basmachis. Thousands of Tajik Basmachis tookrefuge in northern Afghanistan as their struggle continued until 1929,