Turkmenistan, moving ever further away from the neutrality policy articulated by the late "president for life," Saparmurat Niyazov, self-styled "Turkmenbashi" ("father of the Turkmen"), has agreed to assist Kabul in developing its oil and gas deposits.

On July 11 Ashgabat convened the first meeting of the Turkmen-Afghan intergovernmental commission for trade, economic and technical cooperation. Turkmen Minister of Economy and Development Gurbanmyrad Gurbanmyradov headed his country's delegation, while Afghan Economic Minister Mohammad Jalil Shams led his country's team.

The commission's meeting built upon an April 28 summit in Kabul between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, at which they signed a number of agreements on expanding economic, political and cultural cooperation between their countries. The pair first met in July 2006 in Ashgabat. During the effusive bonhomie displayed during a joint news conference, Karzai referred to his distinguished visitor as "my dear brother," while Berdimuhamedov in turn stated Turkmenistan would continue to provide Afghanistan with electricity and gas exports at reduced prices while expanding cooperation in public health, specialist training and reconstructing a railroad connecting the two countries.

"Extension of the Turkmen gas pipeline to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India helps the Afghan economy and creates jobs for the people of Afghanistan as a bridge of true friendship," Berdimuhamedov said.

Turkmenistan, a major producer of electricity, also intends to expand its power grids towards Afghanistan, and the two nations discussed increasing Turkmen electricity deliveries to the Afghan city of Herat, along with reconstructing a power grid in the Turgundy settlement in Herat province and constructing electric transmission lines in Balh province and along the route from Serhetabat to Herat for the Afghan Ministry of Energy and Water.

There is certainly room for growth in the two nations' bilateral trade; according to an Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs assessment, in January-April 2007 it was only $43 million.

The two nations have another mechanism to bolster ties, as they are both members of the Economic Cooperation Organization.

The unspoken subtext of the commission's meeting, however, was undoubtedly the $3.5 billion, 1,050-mile Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (initially "TAP," now "TAPI" with the inclusion of Pakistan and India). The pipeline was first proposed 13 years ago, when Turkmenistan and Pakistan initialed a memorandum of understanding. As envisaged, TAPI, with a carrying capacity of 33 billion cubic meters of Turkmen natural gas a year, would run from Turkmenistan's Dauletabad gas field across Afghanistan and Pakistan and terminate at the Indian town of Fazilka near the Indian-Pakistan border.

The project at one point even involved the Taliban, as in 1997, Central Asia Gas Pipeline Ltd. (CentGas), a consortium led by Unocal, flew a Taliban delegation to Unocal headquarters in Houston, where the Taliban signed off on the project. While 2001's Operation Enduring Freedom shelved the project, both Berdimuhamedov and Karzai are apparently confident that Afghanistan will be pacified, while on the other side of the Durand Line, the new Pakistani Parliament is negotiating to pacify the simmering North-West Frontier Province, an abrupt shift of policy from President Pervez Musharraf's regime. In a sign of broadening international support for TAPI, earlier this year the Asian Development Bank financed a feasibility study and supports the project.

While Turkmenistan's diplomatic and economic initiatives toward Afghanistan meet with Washington's approval, Ashgabat's burgeoning trade ties with charter "axis of evil' member Iran are less to America's liking. According to Iran's ambassador in Ashgabat, Mohammad-Reza Forqani, 250 Iranian trucks now cross the border into Turkmenistan daily though the Islamic republic's customs stations at Bajgiran, Lotfabad, Sarakhs and Incheborun. Forqani added that railways carry a similar amount of cargo.

Perhaps seeking to undercut possible assertions by Washington that such cross-border traffic could cover terrorists in transit, on July 10 Turkmenistan introduced new travel passports with biometric data of Turkmen citizens. Berdimuhamedov signed the resolution authorizing the new travel documents "with the aim of further strengthening friendship relations with foreign countries and expanding mutually beneficial trade and economic, scientific, technological and cultural partnership with foreign countries, and also ensuring legitimate rights of Turkmen citizens for free travel abroad and back home."

The burgeoning Afghan-Turkmen alliance has a simple symmetry -- both are landlocked and isolated, but while Afghanistan provides a valuable possible transit route for exports of Turkmen natural gas to the dynamic markets of Pakistan and India, Afghanistan in turn gets overland access to Russia's markets.

Of course, the only minor problem, dating back 13 years, is how the newly resurgent Taliban will view the revived projects. If recent events are any indicator, the answer would seem to be negative, and Washington's antipathy toward Iran is already well known. Karzai and Berdimuhamedov have their work cut out for them.

(e-mail: [email protected])

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