Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) on Friday ceremonially broke ground on the Afghan section of gas pipeline expected to supply energy to Pakistan and India from Turkmenistan’s gas fields.
Representatives from all four countries Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and India’s Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar marked their attendance to the project which can resolve much more than the energy crisis of the region.
The potential benefits were marked even more with reports on Friday that even Afghan Taliban have vowed to protect the project. The Taliban said: “The TAPI pipeline is an important regional project whose groundwork was initiated during the Islamic Emirate’s rule.”
US welcomed the progress on the project.
Congrats to #Turkmenistan, #Afghanistan and their partners #Pakistan and #India on the #TAPI natural gas pipeline groundbreaking at the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan border. We support efforts to link regional economies and support the region’s growth.
— Heather Nauert (@statedeptspox) February 23, 2018
MJ Akbar called the project to be that hope. He said that the gas pipeline is “ a dove in storm, we must protect it”.
The pipeline’s capacity will be 33 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year of which 5 billion cubic metres will be provided to Afghanistan and 14 billion cubic metres to each Pakistan and India.
