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166 TALIBAN ROMANCING THE TALIBAN 1 167also spoke in favour of the Unocal project. 'We have an American companywhich is interested in building a pipeline from Turkmenistanthrough to Pakistan,' said Raphel at a press conference in Islamabad on21 April 1996. 'This pipeline project will be very good for Turkmenistan,for Pakistan and for Afghanistan as it will not only offer job opportunitiesbut also energy in Afghanistan,' she added. In August, Raphel visitedCentral Asian capitals and Moscow where she pitched the same message.Open US support for the Unocal project aroused an already suspiciousRussia and Iran, which became even more convinced that the CIA wasbacking the Taliban. In December 1996, a senior Iranian diplomat toldme in hushed tones that the Saudis and the CIA had channelled US$2million dollars to the Taliban - even though there was no evidence forsuch suspicions. But accusations multiplied on all fronts after the USAand Unocal committed several blunders.When the Taliban captured Kabul in September 1996, Chris Taggert,a Unocal executive, told wire agencies that the pipeline project would beeasier to implement now that the Taliban had captured Kabul - a statementthat Unocal quickly retracted because it implied that Unocalfavoured a Taliban conquest. Just a few weeks earlier Unocalannounced it would give humanitarian aid as 'bonuses' to the Afghanwarlords, once they agreed to form a joint council to supervise the pipelineproject. Again the implication was that Unocal was ready to dish outmoney to the warlords.Then, within hours of Kabul's capture by the Taliban, the US StateDepartment announced it would establish diplomatic relations with theTaliban by sending an official to Kabul - an announcement it also quicklyretracted. State Department spokesman Glyn Davies said the US found'nothing objectionable' in the steps taken by the Taliban to imposeIslamic law. He described the Taliban as anti-modem rather than anti-Western. US Congressmen weighed in on the side of the Taliban. 'Thegood part of what has happened is that one of the factions at last seemscapable of developing a government in Afghanistan,' said Senator HankBrown, a supporter of the Unocal project. 21 Embarrassed US diplomatslater explained to me that the over-hasty US statement was made withoutconsulting the US Embassy in Islamabad.But the damage done was enormous. UnocaPs gaffes and the confusionin the State Department only further convinced Iran, Russia, the CARs,the anti-Taliban alliance and most Pakistanis and Afghans that the US-Unocal partnership was backing the Taliban and wanted an all-out Talibanvictory - even as the US and Unocal claimed they had no favouritesin Afghanistan. Some Pakistani cabinet ministers, anxious to show thatthe USA supported the Taliban and Pakistan's stance, leaked to Pakistanijournalists that Washington backed the Taliban.The entire region was full of rumours and speculation. Even the everneutralwire agencies weighed in with their suspicions. 'Certainly the Talibanappear to serve the US policy of isolating Iran by creating a firmlySunni buffer on Iran's border and potentially providing security for traderoutes and pipelines that would break Iran's monopoly on Central Asia'ssouthern trade routes,' wrote Reuters. 22Bridas still faced an uphill climb to ensure that they were still in therace. Its gas and oil fields in Turkmenistan were blocked. It had no agreementwith Turkmenistan to buy gas for a pipeline and none with Pakistanto sell gas. With US and Pakistani support, the Taliban were now beingcourted by Unocal. Nevertheless Bridas continued to maintain its officesin Ashkhabad and Kabul, even though Niyazov was trying to force themout. 'Bridas is out, we have given the Afghan pipeline to Unocal. Ourgovernment does not work with Bridas anymore,' Murad Nazdjanov,Turkmen Minister for Oil and Gas told me in Ashkhabad. 23Bridas had one advantage with the Taliban. Bridas told them it didnot need to raise finances for the project through international lendinginstitutions, which would first demand an internationally recognized governmentin Kabul. Instead Bridas had set up TAP Pipelines, a 50-50partnership with the Saudi company Ningarcho, which was extremelyclose to Prince Turki, the Saudi intelligence chief. Bridas said it couldraise 50 per cent of the funding from the Saudis to build the Afghanportion of the pipeline and the rest from an international consortium itwould put together, which would build the less risky Pakistan and Turkmenistanends of the pipeline. 'We will do a complete separation betweenour problems with the Turkmenistan government and the Afghan pipelinecontract. We will make two consortiums, one to build the Afghanline and one to build the Pakistan and Turkmenistan ends of the line,'said a Bridas executive. 24 Bridas was thus offering to start work on thepipeline immediately, without preconditions. It only needed some agreementbetween the Afghan factions, but even that was to remain unobtainable.On the other hand, Unocal's position was closely linked to US policyon Afghanistan - that it would not construct the pipeline or discuss commercialterms with the Taliban, until there was a recognized governmentin Kabul so that the World Bank and others could lend money for theproject. 'We made it clear to all parties from the beginning that the abilityto obtain financing for the project was critical, that the Afghan factionswould have to get together and develop a functioning government thatwas recognized by lending institutions before the project could succeed,'said John Imle. 25 Unocal's real influence with the Taliban was that theirproject carried the possibility of US recognition which the Taliban weredesperately anxious to secure.