New Delhi,. The central government seems to be backing out from the TAPI gas pipeline that runs from Turkmenistan to India via Afghanistan and Pakistan. Given the current state of bilateral relations with Pakistan, the government is not enthusiastic about the extension of this pipeline to India.
According to media sources, under the current state of bilateral relations, India does not want to depend on Pakistan for gas supply as Pakistan can put pressure on India. In view of this, the central government is not actively pushing for gas supply through TAPI. The government of Afghanistan and the President of Turkmenistan started work under this project only last week. At a ceremony in Turkmenistan, officials of both countries, including acting Afghan PM Hassan Akhund, praised the project. Akhund said that this initiative will strengthen bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan and the population of both countries will directly benefit from it. Turkmenistan President Sardar Berdimuhamedow said that this project is beneficial for the entire region.
According to media reports, experts on the condition of anonymity said that TAPI will be economically beneficial only when the gas reaches Pakistan and India. The market size and purchasing capacity of these two countries will increase the importance of the pipeline. India now also has easy access to LNG suppliers. Work on this project started in 2015 from Turkmenistan and work was to start in Afghanistan in 2018 but it kept getting delayed.
The pipeline aims to extract about 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the Galkynysh gas field in south-east Turkmenistan. The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. No country has yet officially recognised the Taliban government. In such a situation, this pipeline is an opportunity for the Taliban government to act as a bridge between Central and South Asia.