Taliban ready to form special security unit for TAPI project

Mullah Baradar, the Taliban deputy prime minister for economic affairs, has announced the group's readiness to form a special security unit for the TAPI project in Afghanistan, Report informs referring to Afghanistan International.

Baradar's office focuses on maintaining the political, security and economic well-being of the region, the newspaper notes. The statement was made after Moscow showed interest in the gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI).

"As the situation in Afghanistan stabilizes, the participation of domestic economic operators in the construction and operation of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline is possible," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement following the visit to Kabul of Russian President's Special Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov.

The TAPI project involves construction of a gas pipeline with a capacity of 33 billion cubic meters per year from the Galkynysh field in Turkmenistan through the cities of Herat and Kandahar in Afghanistan and Quetta and Multan in Pakistan to Fazilka in western India.

The length of the gas pipeline will be more than 1,800 km, including 207 km through Turkmenistan, 774 km through Afghanistan and 826 km through Pakistan to the border with India.

The company developing the project, TAPI Pipeline Company Limited, is 85% owned by the Turkmengaz state concern. Afghanistan, Inter State Gas Systems (Private) Limited from Pakistan and GAIL from India each own 5% of the consortium's shares.