30/05/02 WASHINGTON Alastair McKechnie
One of the World Bank's longest-standing experts on Afghanistan, Alastair McKechnie, is preparing to help oil and gas majors to make a return to Kabul. McKechnie has served as the Bank's country director for Afghanistan ever since he took up residence in the institution's new office in Kabul that was officially inaugurated on May 15. Returning to Afghanistan after a 23-year absence, the World Bank's main activity there will be to manage the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund which will amount to $380 million over the coming four years. One of the feasibility studies it will carry out with reconstruction in mind is the building of a gas pipeline between Turkmenistan and Pakistan that will pass by way of west Afghanistan. The pipeline project is well known because up until 1997 the U.S. oil companies Unocal and Delta Oil paid the Taliban to keep the itinerary open, with the blessings of the State Department. A former energy director for the World Bank in southern Asia, McKechnie worked under Ms. Mieko Nishimizu, vice president of the Bank in charge of South Asia and a specialist in energy issues.
===== Kevin Dean Buffalo, NY ICQ: 8616001 AIM: KDean75206 Buffalo Activist Network http://www.buffaloactivist.net http://www.yaysoft.com
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