WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Afghanistan is set to make substantial economic gains through so-called new Silk Road, an infrastructure network that includes a gas pipeline, an official said.
The Asian Development Bank announced it approved of $754 million in new financing to help link Afghanistan's mineral and energy sector to the region. The ADB-funded projects are part of the so-called new Silk Road in the region. It includes a pipeline that would carry natural gas from Turkmenistan, through Afghanistan, Pakistan and into India.
Robert Hormats, the U.S. under secretary for economic, energy and agricultural affairs, was quoted by Pakistani newspaper The Nation as telling delegates in Washington the new Silk Road could bring substantial economic gains to Afghanistan.
"The Afghanistan of today is beginning to emerge from its economic isolation," he was quoted as saying of the project.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, during meetings last month on the new Silk Road, that fostering investments in major infrastructure "like the so-called (TAPI) pipeline to run from Turkmenistan, through Afghanistan, Pakistan and into India," would promote regional economic stability.
TAPI is favored by Western powers over Iran's rival gas pipeline project to Pakistan because of diplomatic concerns with dealing with Tehran.
