Taliban Oil

The little-known story of secret negotiations between the Taliban and the US to build a pipeline through Afghanistan.

In 1989, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan marked the end of a violent occupation that had started almost 10 years earlier. The Soviet invasion, which had resulted in a protracted war for independence, fragmented the country and changed the political landscape forever.

The sudden power vacuum of the post-Soviet era resulted in an upsurge of fighting as armed factions began to push for more territory.

In the North, people gathered around the Northern Alliance and its leader Ahmed Shah Masood - who was known as the "Lion of Pansjer".