KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Afghanistan is committed to protecting its leg of a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan, the country's minister of mines declared.
The 1,043-mile Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline would transport natural gas from the Dauletabad gas field in Turkmenistan. Security concerns in Pakistan and Afghanistan, coupled with pricing issues on gas, have troubled project partners.
Kabul said it would commit about 7,000 of its troops to guard the pipeline when construction, scheduled for 2012, starts.
Western war partners in Afghanistan place the training of Afghan security forces at the top of the agenda for rebuilding the country. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he'd like his forces to take control of security issues by 2014.
Afghan Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani said that if a major deployment of troops was needed to protect the pipeline, Kabul would commit the resources, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports.
Russian energy company Gazprom is examining a possible role in the project. New Delhi said it would consider adding Gazprom's gas to the pipeline.
TAPI will deliver 1.2 billion cubic feet of gas per year to Pakistan and India. Afghanistan gets the remaining 700 million cf planned for the pipeline.
