Afghanistan Oil Pipeline

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This article or section contains information about a planned or proposed pipeline.
It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change as the construction and/or completion of the pipeline approaches, and more information becomes available.

Several US and British oil companies have proposed the development of oil pipelines to travel from oil rich Azerbajan through Afghanistan ending up in either India or Pakistan ^[1]. Some critics have proposed that the real motive for invading Afghanistan was its importance as a conduit for oil pipelines from Azerbajian to other neighboring countries. ^[2]^[3] (timeline) French newspaper Le Monde claimed that Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai worked as a consultant for Unocal, but Unocal denied the association and no independent confirmation has come to light [1].

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[2].