TOLO news reports that the Natural Resources Monitoring Network has raised concerns over growing insecurity threats around Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project.
On 14-15 May Taliban militants attack on Farah in the west of Afghanistan suggest that the authorities of Afghanistan are unable to ensure the security of the gas pipeline.
The attack was defeated only with the help of the US Air force.
The NRMN chief Ibrahim Jaffari said: “Recently there have been indications that the government is step by step excluding TAPI from its priorities, because recent efforts to take over Farah shows that government has not undertaken any measures to ensure the security of TAPI gas pipeline”.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s Minister of Interior and the Minister of Defense have said the government has outlined a comprehensive security plan to ensure security of the project.
“Enemies of Afghanistan have always tried to hinder the way for the implementation of this project, but we are committed to providing security to this project,” Najib Danish, an official from Afghanistan’s Ministry of the Interior said.
The Afghan section of TAPI pipeline, the construction of which was launched in February 2018, will stretch through Herat, Farah, Nimroz and Kandahar provinces of Afghanistan.