TAPI and regional projects – in focus of Pakistan-Afghanistan relations agenda
The leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan reaffirmed their commitment to the earlier implementation of regional energy projects TAPI and CASA-1000. Consensus on these and many other issues was reached at a meeting in Kabul between Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and President of IRA Ashraf Ghani.
The bilateral talks in the capital of Afghanistan on this topic confirmed the focus on establishing regional ties, as the parties officially announced at the end of February during the ceremony of launching the construction of the Afghan section of the transnational TAPI gas pipeline.
In order to advance the planning and implementation of projects for key gas pipelines and power lines designed to ensure integration between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia, it was agreed to hold a meeting of the joint economic commission in the near future.
One of the outcomes of the meeting was the agreement to increase the pace of construction of the railway line Chaman-Kandahar-Herat and Peshawar-Kabul highway. According to Abbasi and Ghani, all these projects will help to unleash the huge economic potential of the South Asian and Central Asian regions by providing the Central Asian countries with the shortest access to the seaports of Gwadar and Karachi.
It was also noted that Kabul and Islamabad are striving to achieve the common goals of regional security through the above-mentioned projects of trade, transport and energy connectivity.
Touching upon the Afghan issue, the parties stressed that there is no military solution to the ongoing conflict and that the only solution is a political one.
The theme of regional peace was recently raised at a debate held in Islamabad within the framework of the joint cultural festival with the participation of politicians, leading analysts and experts from the two countries. One of the main lines of discussion was the interethnic rapprochement of the Afghan and Pakistani people, connected not only by ethnicity and religion, but also by today's common economic agenda.
