Pakistan Backs Out of TAPI Pipeline Talks

Pakistan has refused to participate in a US backed talks on the TAPI pipeline to be held in India.

According to The Express Tribune, the talks were supposed to take place on August 22 in New Delhi and the US had invited Pakistan to participate but tensions on India-Pakistan Line of Control prompted Pakistan to back out.

The US has been pressing Pakistan to go ahead with the TAPI gas pipeline and shelve the Iran-Pakistan pipeline project because of a standoff with Tehran over its alleged nuclear programme, Express Tribune said..

 “A representative of the US State Department and Chevron officials, who were visiting India to discuss issues pertaining to the pipeline, had asked Pakistan to join them, but Pakistan’s refusal caused the talks to be put off,” a source familiar with the development told the newspaper.

US firm Chevron is interested in financing the pipeline, which will pass through war-torn Afghanistan, and is seeking a stake in developing gas fields in Turkmenistan.