Khaama Press
December 12, 2015

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khwaja Mohammad Asif has said they would use their influence on Taliban for the security of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline.

Khwaja Mohammad Asif told the BBC Urdu on Friday that TAPI project is very important for all stakeholders especially in reducing the energy crisis in Pakistan.

“Therefore, we would try our best to have this project completed on time,” he said.

While responding the question as if Pakistan would use its influence on Afghan militant groups, especially the Taliban, for the security of TAPI pipeline project, he said: “Of course, we would use it. For our interests, we would take any positive step.”

The construction work on TAPI gas pipeline is scheduled to begin on December 13.

The inauguration ceremony of the project would be attended by Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov, his Afghan counterpart Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani PM Mohammad Nawaz Sharif.

The $10 billion gas pipeline supported by the United States and the Asian Development Bank is designed to transport 33 billion cubic meters of gas annually for a period of three decades to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

The construction of the pipeline with a length of 1,735 kilometers (1,084 mile) is expected to complete by the end of December 2018 and last for 30 years.

The pipeline will run more than 700 km across Afghanistan on its way to Pakistan and India which would be filled with gas from Turkmenistan’s mammoth Galkynysh field, the world’s second-largest reservoir of natural gas.