Historical Overview:
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the beginning of an energy shortage in Pakistan and India, Afghanistan found itself in the perfect position to connect countries in need of natural gas with the gas deposits in energy-rich Turkmenistan. TAPI is a natural gas pipeline currently being developed with the aim to connect Turkmenistan with India through Afghanistan and Pakistan and to serve for a 30-year period. However, after the Soviet invasion of the country in 1979, the subsequent rise of the Taliban and the United States invasion in 2001, the Afghan government has struggled to have full control of its territory and safety remains a major concern. Furthermore, Russia still plays a major role in central Asia and new economic and political powers, such as China and Iran, have more and more interests in the region.
Analysis of the Current Situation:
The TAPI project has seen many developments between 2010 and 2018. An inter-governmental agreement (IGA) was signed in 2010 by the heads of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. In December of the same year a Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement (GPFA) was also signed by the petroleum ministries of the four countries. Moreover, in February 2018 Turkmenistan completed its section of the project and the Taliban in Afghanistan decided to support TAPI in the areas under their control to foster economic growth.
Additionally, TAPI is being financed by the Asian Development Bank, which is also acting as transaction adviser for the development of the project. In October 2018, a three-day exhibition regarding TAPI was launched in the Afghan capital. The head of the TAPI exhibition committee prompted both public sector institutions as well as private actors to invest in the project.
Nevertheless, there are major challenges that still need to be overcome. Firstly, besides what the Taliban said regarding their support for the project, many Afghan regions that would be crossed by the pipeline are unstable and safety remains a significant issue. Secondly, Afghanistan is also struggling to acquire land, which is often privately owned. So far only 45% of the land for the Afghan section of the pipeline has been bought as per Afghan officials. Furthermore, on February 14th, 2019, a suicide attack in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir in India killed 40 Indian soldiers. After this event, India accused Pakistan of supporting the terrorist group that carried out the attack. The suicide bombing and following declarations by both countries deteriorated their relationship pushing them towards a state of conflict. Therefore, the latest developments suggest that the TAPI project is far from being successfully completed and starting functioning in 2020.
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TAPI: Proposed Turkmen-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Gas Pipeline 
maxsteudel 5:34 am on March 8, 2019 Permalink |
We set up a telephone call with our client for 16th at 4:15 p.m.
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