Getting Too Deep Into Pakistan/Afghanistan
by Steve Soto
The Bush Administration has dumped billions of American dollars into Pervez Musharraf’s ruling military government over the last six years, only to see that money go not for anti-terror efforts by our supposed best friend in the war on terror but instead be sent into that country’s military complex. After opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was gunned down right under his nose last year, Musharraf now finds himself on the way out of power and succeeded by a coalition government that itself is now crumbling.
In the midst of all this chaos and wasted billions, the NYT reports about an alleged internal war within the Bush Administration, where the State Department is outing UN ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad for being too closely involved with internal Pakistani politics. According to one story in the Times today, Khalilzad has been freelancing and advising Asif Ali Zardari, leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, and widower of the late Benazir Bhutto. The State Department is leaking copies of internal emails to the NYT in an attempt to show that Khalilzad is freelancing by helping Zardari take power as Musharraf’s successor, in an effort to bamboozle the press into thinking that the Bush Administration is not actively working to install Zardari as Musharraf’s successor. Yet another story in the same paper today shows that in fact the administration is picking Zardari as our next guy, and wants him instead of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
No one should be shocked, especially the Times, that the administration is working to install Zardari as Musharraf’s successor, while Khalilzad himself wants to move from the Bush Administration into contention as a future Afghan president to succeed Hamid Karzai. Keep in mind that both Karzai and Khalilzad worked for Unocal and with Dick Cheney to secure energy pipelines through Afghanistan before the Bush Administration came to power in 2001. As such, it makes perfect sense for Khalilzad to be freelancing now to succeed Karzai as Afghanistan president, and to covertly work towards getting our next guy installed in Pakistan. Karzai may have outlived his usefulness to us, and with Zardari installed in Pakistan and Khalilzad installed in Afghanistan, Big Oil would be assured of pipelines. Our intelligence community would find once again that we are installing folks who already have a track record of putting oil politics ahead of bagging the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Putin has now shown us that he can obliterate Cheney's Central Asia pipeline scheme when he chooses to do so. That puts the Afghanistan/Pakistan grand empire scheme back on Page One for these guys.