http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/06/141355.php The New Pearl Harbor, chapter 7, excerpts:
...the Taliban was originally created by the CIA, working in conjunction with Pakistan's ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence), with additional financial support from Saudi Arabia.>4 According to Ahmed Rashid's well-known book Taliban, the pipeline project was central to this support:
..the then-emerging Taliban to cut a pipeline deal, the State Department and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency agreed to funnel arms and funding to the Taliban.>5"
When the Taliban, with this financial support from Saudi Arabia and the CIA funneled through the ISI, conquered Kabul in 1996, Unocal was hopeful that it would provide enough stability to allow its pipelines to be built and protected...7 The fact that the Taliban continued to serve the purposes of the ISI is illustrated, Thompson points out, by the fact that when Taliban troops were about to conquer the major city in northern Afghanistan in 1998, an ISI officer sent a message saying: "My boys and I are riding into Mazar-i- Sharif.">8 In any case, after the Taliban conquered this city, it had control of most of Afghanistan, including the entire pipeline route. CentGas then announced that it was "ready to proceed.">9
The final attempt to find a non-military solution reportedly occurred at a four-day meeting in Berlin in July of 2001. The Bush administration tried to get the Taliban to share power, thereby creating a joint government of "national unity." According to the Pakistani representative at the meeting, Niaz Naik, one of the Americans said "either the Taliban behave as they ought to...or we will use another option..a military operation"
More in chapter 7
Discussing the Afghan War? and arranging for Atta (didn't ISI pay him?)
http://timelines.ws/countries/AFGHANISTAN.HTML2001 Sep 13, The US requested that Pakistan grant air and land space for military actions in Afghanistan. US Special Forces arrived in Afghanistan.
(WSJ, 9/14/01, p.A1)(NW, 8/26/02, p.38)
2001 Sep 15, As many as 300,000 Afghans reportedly had fled Kandahar in fear of US air strikes.
(SFC, 9/17/01, p.A8)
2001 Sep 15, Iran ordered its security forces to seal off its 560-mile border with Afghanistan.
(SSFC, 9/16/01, p.A7)
2001 Sep 15, Pakistan agreed to close its border with Afghanistan and pledged full support to combat int’l. terrorism.
(SSFC, 9/16/01, p.A7)
2001 Sep 16, Pakistan told Afghanistan to surrender Osama bin Laden within 3 days or face almost certain military action.
(SFC, 9/17/01, p.A8)
2001 Sep 17, In Afghanistan Islamic clerics demanded proof from the US that Osama bin Laden was responsible for the Sep 11 terrorist attacks. They also requested that the Organization of Islamic Conference, a group of over 50 Muslim countries, make a formal demand for bin Laden’s handover.
(SFC, 9/18/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 17, Pakistan virtually shut down its 1,560-mile border with Afghanistan. Some 1.2 million Afghan refugees in the North-West Frontier Province were confined to dozens of camps in the region.
(SFC, 9/18/01, p.A8)