KABUL – Afghan Taliban have vowed to protectTurkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project, hailing itas a landmark scheme for the country’s economic prosperity.
Construction work on the Afghan section of the multi-billion dollarsnatural gas pipeline — linking energy-rich Turkmenistan to Pakistan andIndia, got underway in Western Herat province today.
President Ashraf Ghani, his Turkmen counterpart Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov,Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and India’s Minister of Statefor External Affairs MJ Akbar attended the opening ceremony.
In a statement, carried by an Afghan news agency, the Taliban said: “TheTAPI pipeline is an important regional project whose groundwork wasinitiated during the Islamic Emirate’s rule.”
However, the statement claimed, the project had faced delays due toAmerica’s military presence in the region. The launch of work on the Afghansection of the pipeline was happy news for all Afghans, it added.
“In areas under its control, the Islamic Emirate announces full cooperationon implementation of the project and associated dimensions of the pipelinedraw attention to the principle of the Emirate,” the rebel movement added.
Under the Afghan government, holding a global record of corruption andembezzlement, no game-changing economic development scheme has been carriedout so far and that was why the TAPI pipeline was also marred by massivegraft, the Taliban alleged.
The insurgent movement vowed to check corruption in implementation of thescheme if it found signs of acts that infringed on people’s rights orshowed misappropriation by the rulers.
The group blamed the US for indirect meddling on a massive copper projectin central Logar province. To achieve their designs, it feared, theAmericans might try to impede the TAPI pipeline.
tags: Afghanistan