Taliban Oil

This is the unknown story of secret negotiations between the Taliban and America to build a pipeline through Afghanistan.

When America invaded Afghanistan in 2001, the stated aim was to dismantle Al-Qaeda, denying it a safe base of operations by removing the Taliban from power. But Al-Qaeda claimed that the attack on the Twin Towers was a response to the Bush administration’s threats to attack Afghanistan if its demands for pipeline rights were not met. According to sources, Taliban officials were told they could accept a ‘carpet of gold’ or a ‘carpet of bombs.’

What we know for sure is that in 1997, a delegation of Taliban officials visited Texas to discuss the possibility of a pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan. Negotiations continued for years and as late as July 2001, just months before 9/11, the Taliban again met with top US representatives. What happened during those talks remains a mystery but, as this film shows, the pipeline played a key role in shaping US – Afghanistan relations pre-9/11.