Alwaght- On Friday, the TAPI gas project between Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India was officially launched in the Afghan city of Herat.
TAPI, taking its name from the initials of participating countries, is a multi-billion energy transfer project which was sealed on 13 December 2015, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan, President Gurbanguly, Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi of Pakistan, and the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Mobashar Javad Akbar inaugurated the construction work in an official ceremony.
The Afghan president expressed happiness about the start of the working on the project and, pointing to the historical significance of Herat which is known as the intersection of Asia, hailed the quartet cooperation as important to reduce poverty in the region.
The pipeline is 1.8 thousand kilometers long and is expected to cost the investors over $10 billion to construct. It will transfer some 22 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan (4 billion cubic meters) to Pakistan (14 billion cubic meters) and then to India (14 billion cubic meters). The project is scheduled to be finished by 2020. Of 1.8 thousand kilometers, 214 kilometers will be in Turkmenistan, 774 kilometers in Afghanistan, and 826 kilometers in Pakistan. The gas is set to be pumped from Galkynysh gas filed in southwestern Turkmenistan, pass through Herat-Kandahar Highway, reach Quetta and Multan cities of Pakistan, and from there to the Indian border city of Fazilka.
The pipeline construction is funded by the Asian Development Bank and is said to largely facilitate regional coordination between Central Asia and South Asia which helps expand energy trade and regional peace. The project is seen as part of the new Silk Road.
The original agreement on the gas transfer project was signed in 1990 by Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan under the Taliban regime following a proposal made to the three parties by the US. The Afghanistan war, as well as regional disputes like those between India and Pakistan, have hampered the work on the project. After over two decades of delay, it is now launched.
How TAPI benefits member states
This gas project can be of various privileges for the participating nations. The first and the most benefit is the positive economic advantages. In the first place, the project is so tremendous and will create jobs and so push down the unemployment rates in the four countries. The project, some economists suggest, can push up the participating countries’ gross national product (GNP). Among the three others, the economists add, Turkmenistan, in this case, can benefit the most.
Mohiuddin Nouri, the deputy governor of Herat, has pointed to the advantages Afghanistan can take from this energy project, adding that once the project is operational, the country can on the one hand produce Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and on the other hand produce power. In the two cases, he continued, the industrial parks and gas and power consumers can enjoy cheaper energy. The same case is also true when it comes to Pakistan and India. Moreover, the TAPI-transferred gas will be cheaper than before. Additionally, the experts maintain that the Afghan government will make $500 million per year from the transit duty.
Besides job creation, by facilitating a regional economic cooperation corridor the pipeline project will yield other achievements including regional partnership expansion, peace, and trade and energy links between Central and South Asia. For example, Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan can check further tensions between the three countries whose relations have historically been subject to persistent friction.
Challenges ahead
The Most considerable challenge to the TAPI project is insecurity and the hardships of securing the pipeline. The line, especially in Afghanistan, passes through areas where takfiri and radical groups are holding a sway. Haqqani Network, a guerrilla insurgent group mainly active in Afghanistan, is a good example. The instability is on the rise in Afghanistan as ISIS terrorist group, dealt a blow in Syria and Iraq, is relocating to Afghanistan and strengthening its position there. For some time, the Russian and Iranian officials have been warning that the US is transferring ISIS form Iraq and Syria to Afghanistan to pose a lasting challenge to the Central Asian states, China, and also Russia. Despite the fact that the Taliban spokesman has expressed the militant group’s support for the project and offered contribution to its security, jeopardizing the pipeline will always be a highly efficient pressure card in the hand of the group. Pakistan also faces the same risks from the insurgent groups on is soil. Its oil tankers and pipelines have always been easy targets for the anti-Islamabad rebel groups.
Another problematic issue is the deep-rooted India-Pakistan disputes. The two countries’ ties since the independence of Pakistan from India in 1947 have often been contentious and several times led to deadly clashes. The history of their relations hardly witnessed steps by their leaders towards the improvement of political and economic partnership. The neighbor’s tensions also have a place in the competition of the global powers over South Asia. China, aiming at getting an economic and military toehold in various parts of the world including West and Central Asia, has zealously established cooperation with Pakistan. On the opposite side stands the US which struggles to block Beijing’s influence efforts. To this end, Washington embarked on closer cooperation with New Delhi and asked it to play a greater role in South and West Asia equations, including Afghanistan. What is clear is that the Indian-Pakistan tensions, especially recently, have set to escalate, a development that certainly does not appear to reflect an outlook of smooth and unchallenged implementation of the TAPI project.
