Afghanistan said Wednesday work would begin on a $10 billion gas pipeline traversing South Asia as officials joined dignitaries in neighboring Turkmenistan to celebrate its completion on that side of the border.
Progress on the TAPI pipeline — running through Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India — has been repeatedly delayed because of security issues in conflict-ravaged Afghanistan.
“From today the operations will start on Afghanistan’s soil,” Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said at the ceremony in comments broadcast by Afghan state television.
At the border ceremony in Islim Cheshma in Turkmenistan, officials on both sides, including Afghan Prime Minister Hassan Akhund, hailed the project.
“This project will benefit not only the economies of the countries participating but also the countries of the whole region,” Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedow said in a video broadcast live at the ceremony.
In the Afghan border province of Herat, a public holiday was declared to mark the occasion, with posters celebrating the project plastered around the capital of the same name.
The pipeline will see around 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas each year extracted from the Galkynysh gas field in southeast Turkmenistan.
It will be pumped through a 1,800-kilometer (1,120-mile) pipeline traversing Afghanistan, including Herat and Kandahar in the south, before crossing into restive Balochistan province in Pakistan and ending in Fazilka in Indian Punjab.
Pakistan and India will each purchase 42 percent of the gas deliveries, and Afghanistan 16 percent, while Kabul will also benefit from lucrative transit fees of around $500 million per year, according to Afghan media.
Work on the Turkmen side began in 2015 and was initially scheduled to start in Afghanistan in 2018, but has been repeatedly delayed.
India’s commitment to the pipeline has also previously been questioned over its relationship with Pakistan and its already easy access to liquefied natural gas markets.
- Jobs and cheap gas -
The ceremony was an opportunity to simultaneously launch various bilateral projects, including a fiber-optic line to Herat, an electricity line, and the inauguration of a railway bridge.
In a country plagued by unemployment, TAPI “will provide jobs for 12,000 people in Afghanistan,” the government spokesman Mujahid told AFP.
Neither Afghan nor Turkmen officials have provided details on the financing or the expected date for TAPI to come online.
However, Swapnil Babele, an analyst with the research group Rystad Energy, expects further delays “as a lot of work remains to be done and the question of future financing is unclear.”
“We expect it to be operational only in the next decade,” he told AFP.
For the three recipient countries, the pipeline will have the advantage of “delivering gas cheaper than liquefied natural gas and ensuring consistent supply.”
It is the most significant development project for Taliban authorities since they seized power in 2021, ending their two decade-long insurgency against the foreign-backed government.
The pipeline gives the government, which is not officially recognized by any nation, a strategic role in regional cooperation between Central Asia and South Asia, which is facing huge energy deficits.
Afghanistan, although still under economic and financial sanctions from the West, is currently trying to relaunch ambitious projects, particularly in energy, mines and infrastructure.
At the end of July, Afghanistan and China officially relaunched a major copper-extraction project in the world’s second-largest known deposit, near Kabul, which had been bogged down since 2008.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Pakistan’s street child football team on Wednesday, which recently delivered an outstanding performance at a tournament in Norway, and promised to do everything possible to promote the sport in the country.
Football enjoys a significant fanbase in Pakistan, but it has often been overshadowed by the nation’s obsession with cricket. Efforts to uplift the national football team are gaining momentum, however, with its players facing veteran teams from Saudi Arabia and Tajikistan in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The Pakistani street child football team also displayed a stellar performance in the Norway Cup 2024, advancing to the semifinals after remaining undefeated in its group stage matches.
“The players of the Pakistani street child football team are making the country proud worldwide,” the prime minister was quoted as saying in a statement released by his office after the meeting. “Your outstanding performance proves that Pakistani youth can exhibit their talents globally if they have the opportunity.”
“We will take every possible step for the development of football in Pakistan,” he added. “A comprehensive plan for the development of football in the country will soon be implemented.”
Pakistan’s street child football team is primarily composed of underprivileged children who have very limited resources.
These children come from marginalized backgrounds and face significant challenges, including lack of access to proper education, training facilities and basic necessities.
The team is promoted and supported by Muslim Hands, a UK-based non-profit organization that focuses on humanitarian aid, education, and poverty alleviation.
The prime minister also praised Muslim Hands for its initiative and assured the team of his government’s full support.
He also directed the relevant authorities to fully restore departmental sports on a priority basis and to submit a report.