I say….a reason for everything and for everything a reason. Now it looks like this cliché can be applied to the ongoing situation in Afghanistan. I have long suspected that there was a stronger underlying motive for the so called war in Afghanistan. This week a headline piece in the Globe and Mail by journalist Shawn McCarthy blew the lid off this concealed underlying motive.

Turns out Afghanistan and three of its neighboring countries have agreed to build a $7.6 billion pipeline to deliver natural gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India. The proposed pipeline route, it turns out, will pass right through – yes you guessed it - Kandahar Province, a hotspot of military action. And of course the men of influence in Washington also have their fingers in the cookie jar. It seems this pipeline project if completed on time will block a competing pipeline that the Iranians would like to build. This Afghani pipeline would also serve to challenge the dominance of Russia in the area. If construction can get underway by 2010, gas should be flowing through the pipeline in 2015.

For me, things are now really starting to make sense. The Canadian Gov't recently announced that it would leave troops in Afghanistan until 2011. This should be ample time for the pipeline route to be surveyed out and secured. So much for all that media spin about leaving troops there for the good of the Afghani people. What a load of crap! And, this is not the first time this pipeline project has been talked about. Turns out that in the late 1990's, Unocal Energy had been engaged in serious talks to advance the project. But in 2001 the Taliban walked away from the negotiations. And of course, right after the 9-11 attacks, where did President Bush direct his military efforts? Why towards the Taliban of course ! How clever, how convenient.

As I said at the outset – a reason for everything and for everything a reason. If you thought energy geo-politics was no longer at play in the world, I suggest you think again. If you think that a military presence in Afghanistan is all about making the country a better place, I suggest you think again. The so called war in Afghanistan has a much bigger underlying motive and this so called war is a long ways from being over.