For every drop of oil, a refugee. (A New Era).After September 11, more than a million Afghan refugees Afghan refugees (known as Muhajir Afghans in South Asia) are people who fled Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion in 1979 and during the civil war that followed. Since the early 1980s to the late 1990s, there were approximately 3 million Afghan refugees staying in fled to Iran, Pakistan, or other bordering nations to escape U.S. retaliation. This refugee flow has deepened an already desperate humanitarian crisis A humanitarian crisis (or "humanitarian disaster") is an event or series of events which represents a critical threat to the health, safety, security or wellbeing of a community or other large group of people, usually over a wide area. , one that teaches far beyond Afghanistan's borders. With 20 million displaced people and millions more in poverty, Western Asia is a region in desperate need of peace. However, peace is not something that these nations have been offered the opportunity to choose. The U.S. alone sent 40 billion dollars in weapons and military training to the region in the year 2000. These are the weapons that support virtually every war and ethnic conflict in the region, whether fought by Israel, Iraq, Iran, or the Taliban. Every one of these weapons sales has been approved or directly funded by the Pentagon or the State Department. Providing the infrastructure for war and death in Western Asia seems contradictory to all-too-familiar presidential statements about the humanitarian nature of the Gulf War or the War on Terrorism Terrorist acts and the threat of Terrorism have occupied the various law enforcement agencies in the U.S. government for many years. The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, as amended by the usa patriot act . The truth, however, is in the numbers. The U.S. is the world's greatest military supplier, yet it is only 8th in provision of humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity. , relative to GNP GNP See: Gross National Product . And of this humanitarian aid, little goes to the people in Western Asia who are displaced or destitute as a result of war (see map). Why would regional instability and conflict within countries serve U.S. interests? In the past, regional leaders have envisioned Pan-Arab nationalism as a way of achieving self-determination and control over oil reserves Oil reserves refer to portions of oil in place that are claimed to be recoverable under economic constraints. Oil in the ground is not a "reserve" unless it is claimed to be economically recoverable, since as the oil is extracted, the cost of recovery increases incrementally . Democratic governments have tried to nationalize na·tion·al·ize tr.v. na·tion·al·ized, na·tion·al·iz·ing, na·tion·al·iz·es 1. To convert from private to governmental ownership and control: nationalize the steel industry. 2. oil reserves to build their economies. The U.S. has been quick to stifle any such threats to its cheap oil lifeline through covert actions, direct military intervention, or by fueling intraregional and intracountry conflict. William Pittz, " No Safe Haven." Will recently completed a fellowship at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He is now a research associate at the Applied Research Center. |
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