Pakistan and Turkmenistan are scheduled to engage in discussions regarding the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan–India (TAPI) gas pipeline project in Islamabad on May 15-16, the Business Recorder reports (Pakistan).
"Pakistan has shown a willingness to go ahead with the TAPI gas pipeline project with or without India as Afghanistan is ready to raise a special force for the project," the information said.
The stumbling block remains the security and political situation in transit Afghanistan.
"If favourable factors were created, including raising stakes of the Afghans, the security problem could be addressed," sources close to the project said.
Transit revenues from the pipeline would make up around 80 to 85% of Afghanistan’s annual budget. According to a Pakistani paper, Kabul's interim leadership has indicated its readiness to raise a dedicated security force to ensure the safety of the pipeline.
The TAPI project was initiated in December 2015, with the Turkmen side constructing a linear pipeline on their territory. Currently, preparations are underway to establish the source of raw materials from the vast Galkynysh field. The project can potentially deliver up to 33bn cubic meters of Turkmen gas annually to the South Asian market for the next three decades.
Concerns about the security of the project along the Afghan route remain serious because it is threatened by the Khorasan branch of the "Islamic State." Potential investors, for their part, await international recognition of the new government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Credits: Eziz Boyarov, Ashgabat
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