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Oil route dispute mars Kazakh-US harmony on Afghanistan
ASTANA: Kazakhstan agreed on Sunday to aid the reconstruction of Afghanistan but made clear to visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell that it still disagreed with US views on how to transport its huge oil resources to world markets.
Speaking after a one-hour head-to-head talk with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Powell said that Kazakhstan had "indicated a willingness to participate fully in the humanitarian as well as the reconstruction phase" in Afghanistan. But the two men made clear at a joint news conference that US-Kazakh differences over the routes pipelines should take out of the oil-rich former Soviet republic were still far from resolved.
Powell, who is on a 10-day tour of European and Central Asian capitals, told reporters that Kazakhstan was prepared to offer the use of facilities, infrastructure, bases and technicians to help the Afghans rebuild their country. "Kazakhstan declared from the beginning that it would be with the coalition fighting against terrorism with all the means at its disposal and we remain true to this position," he added. He said on Sunday that he had no so far received any such requests.
Oil-rich Kazakhstan is thought to be concerned that it is being pushed into second place as a US partner in Central Asia after Uzbekistan, where some 1,500 US troops are based. The United States has tried to build ties with Kazakhstan, the most stable and economically successful Central Asian State, which has huge reserves of oil and gas.
In particular, Washington has been pushing Kazakhstan to ship oil through a still-unbuilt US-backed pipeline from Baku on the Azeri side of the Caspian Sea to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The US favours the project because it bypasses Russia and Iran.
But the Kazakh president said oil majors operating in his country, including US companies, considered a pipeline route to Iran to be the most economically viable option. "Our investors who work in the oil sphere considered the most profitable route is through Iran and the Persian Gulf," Nazarbayev said. "This is not just my opinion. We are interested in multiple routes," he added.
Meanwhile, Powell said that he saw "nothing in the post September 11 era that would suggest (the US) should rethink" its policy on pipeline routes out of Central Asia. Nazarbayev also complained that the west had failed to involve Russia sufficiently in world politics and said he welcomed Moscow's improving ties with Nato.
"The policy of forcing Russia out of the world's problems is not forward-looking and wrong. It is a big country and a big power. It should be drawn into all these processes," Nazarbayev said. "You can't stop a running elephant by grabbing its leg," he added, quoting an old saying. Before leaving for Moscow, Powell conveyed an invitation for Nazarbayev to visit the United States on December 21.'
By Jang 10.12.2001 |
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