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The Asian Development Bank has said that unless the Islamic Emirate is recognized, it will not help implement the TAPI project, reportedly aimed to provide job opportunities for Afghans.
According to local media, the bank had suspended all of its activities related to the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India project since August last year when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. "The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said that unless the Islamic Emirate is recognized, it will not help implement the TAPI project. The bank said it had suspended all activities related to the TAPI project since August 8 last year," an Afghanistan-based radio and television network said in a Tweet. TAPI pipeline will be a trans-country natural gas pipeline running across four countries. According to some economists, the implementation of the TAPI project will provide job opportunities for around 12,000 people in Afghanistan, Tolo News has reported. The Taliban say that the practical work of the TAPI project will begin in the near future and all the preliminary work has been prepared for its implementation. Bilal Karimi, the deputy spokesman for the Taliban had said that work on the security and financial sectors of the project has been partially completed and that practical work on the project will begin as the weather warms up. "The TAPI project should be implemented in a good way, and the Islamic Emirate is well prepared for its financial part. From our side, its technical and logistical problems have been solved," he had said. Meanwhile, Afghanistan is part of the Turkmen gas pipeline project to Pakistan and India, and it is expected that Afghanistan will earn about USD 400 million a year for allowing transit across its territory. Also, Turkmen officials expressed optimism about the future of the project after a meeting three weeks ago with the head of the Afghanistan foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, according to Tolo News. (ANI)
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