Prospects of energy cooperation in Central Asia

... dramatically: in September 1996 Kabul was seized by the Taliban. Their rise to power endangered international economic cooperation which was gaining momentum. Nonetheless, the US promptly found their bearings and in the same year invited the new masters of Afghanistan to participate in the project. The Taliban delegation was warmly received in the State Department, and then taken to Houston and accorded red-carpet treatment (a propos, the city hosts the headquarters of such energy companies as ConocoPhillips, Shell and Energy Services Group owned by Halliburton). At the time the Taliban supported the project after it had received $400 billion for the analysis of the project feasibility study . However, after Al-Qaida attacked ...