By Rupen Savoulian
Fighting has erupted once again between the Taliban militia and soldiers from the opposition northern alliance led by Ahmed Shah Masood.
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are three former Soviet republics that share a border with Afghanistan. Iran, Russia and all the central Asian republics have combined to form an anti-Taliban front.
However, Turkmenistan's president, Sapramurad Niyazov, has been secretly courting the Taliban. A Taliban delegation visited the Turkmen capital, Ashqabat, to plan a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghan territory to Pakistan.
Turkmenistan, a country of only 4 million people, is rich in energy resources, particularly natural gas. It possesses the seventh largest natural gas reserves in the world. Niyazov believes that giving the Taliban an economic stake will cause it to drop its support for Islamist militants in Turkmenistan.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are the only countries in the world to recognise the Taliban government. Islamabad is anxious to get its hands on Turkmenistan's natural gas and cotton supplies.
Bridas Corporation, which specialises in oil and natural gas, has been competing with Unocal, a US company operating closely with Delta Oil, which is based in Saudi Arabia.
Unocal opened offices in Mazar-i-Sharif, the headquarters of the northern alliance. It had an office in Qandahar, the former southern base of the Taliban before it seized control of Kabul.
Maintaining a toehold in both camps, Unocal is uniquely placed to profit from future oil and natural gas development. The Taliban, which receives financial and military support from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, stands to benefit from any mineral exploration and development in Turkmenistan.
In 1996, Afghanistan is said to have produced more than 2000 metric tonnes of opium. It is no secret that the Taliban has profited from the drug trade. Meanwhile, 250,000 people in Kabul are dependent on food handouts from United Nations and international relief agencies.
The Taliban controls the southern two-thirds of the country, while the northern alliance — a coalition of various political groupings — controls the northern third. The latest fighting between Masood's forces and the Taliban breaks a lull of several weeks.
An Afghan ethnic Uzbek commander, General Abdul Malik, has fled to Turkmenistan after being ousted by the forces of the main military commander of the northern alliance, General Abdul Rashid Dostum. Malik entered a short-lived alliance with the Taliban in May to oust Dostum from Mazar-i-Sharif, but, with regional ambitions of his own, then turned against the Taliban.
Fighting is increasingly bitter. Dostum's forces have uncovered evidence that Malik massacred some 3000 Taliban prisoners of war. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has authorised an investigation.
The Taliban has responded by imposing a blockade on the northern city of Bamyan where, UN officials say, 160,000 people face starvation unless urgent food supplies are sent through.