Afghanistan to begin work on TAPI gas pipeline

.Progress on the TAPI pipeline has been repeatedly delayed because of security issues in conflict-ravaged Afghanistan

KABUL:

Afghanistan said on Wednesday work would begin on a $10 billion gas pipeline traversing South Asia as officials joined dignitaries in neighbouring Turkmenistan to celebrate its completion on that side of the border.

Progress on the TAPI pipeline - running through Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India - has been repeatedly delayed because of security issues in conflict-ravaged Afghanistan.

"From today the operations will start on Afghanistan's soil," Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said at the ceremony in comments broadcast by Afghan state television.

At the border ceremony in Islim Cheshma in Turkmenistan, officials on both sides, including Afghan Prime Minister Hassan Akhund, hailed the project.

"This project will benefit not only the economies of the countries participating but also the countries of the whole region,"