Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Afghan and Pakistani officials on Wednesday appeared confident about the prospects of transnational gas pipeline proposed from Turkmenistan to India, notwithstanding critics calling it a far cry given the security challenges in Afghanistan.

Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI), an American initiative of early 1990s chiefly to counter the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, has once again surfaced in Afghan media as a promising economic opportunity for the war-torn country. TAPI was initially a project proposed to Pakistan as TAP gas pipeline but India joined at a later stage after it officially departed from transnational project of IPI, in a bid to get closer to the US. Of late, Asian Development Bank had assumed the role of lead manager of the project. According to reports, Turkmenistan had done a lot of work required for implementation of the project but the security challenges in Afghanistan were the main hurdle.

Senior government officials in Islamabad privy to the developments told Daily Times that two proposed transnational pipelines were not mutually exclusive. “If built successfully, two pipelines could complement each other keeping in view the growing energy needs of China, India and Pakistan and possibility of further export through CPEC and Gwadar. However, he rushed to add, India was not serious as it never has been to be part of any project through Pakistan. “Indians were just playing as partners to the TAPI with both Afghans and Americans,” he added.

Meanwhile, a petroleum industry technocrat, requesting not to be named, observed that transnational pipelines have become too expensive to be economically viable. He was of the view that the Americans have again pushed the proposal, this time through the Afghan media, just as an economic opportunity lollipop. “In practical terms, one can call the proposed TAPI as a far cry in the event of India-Pakistan hostilities and imbroglio of terror threat in Afghanistan,” he maintained.

Apart from Indian perplexity about the project and gigantic security upheavals, the Afghan media reported TAPI as a “project that can bring good economic opportunities and regional stability.” According to reports, Afghan government officials were of the view, “the practical wok on this project starts at a time when Afghanistan has been at close quarters with big security and economic challenges.”

The Afghan government, reportedly, considers the project as an important step to improve Afghanistan’s economic situation. At the same time, Afghan economists believed the implementation of TAPI was essential for economic self-sufficiency of Afghanistan and reduction of its financial dependence on other countries.

Published in Daily Times, October 19^th 2017.