Turkmenistan hosted the Taliban on Saturday to discuss large infrastructure projects connecting the gas-rich country with Afghanistan and beyond, the Turkmen foreign ministry said.
Read also: In Afghanistan, the Taliban are negotiating their return to power
Turkmenistan has forged close ties with the official government of Afghanistan in recent years, but has also engaged in dialogue with the Taliban in the past to gain their support for its plans in the country.
A statement attributed to the Taliban, published on the website of the Turkmen Foreign Ministry, indicates that the insurgents "
expressed their full support for the implementation of (...) infrastructure projects aimed at ensuring the well-being and the prosperity of the Afghan people
”.
A series of tweets from a Taliban spokesperson confirmed on Saturday evening the discussions in the Turkmen capital, Ashkhabad, and specified that "
the security of the borders of the two countries
" had also been discussed.
Turkmenistan last month inaugurated a section of rail, power line and fiber optic cable to Afghanistan as the former Soviet republic seeks to strengthen its role in rebuilding the war-ravaged Afghan economy.
The high-voltage line project is intended to transport electricity from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan, partially funded by the Asian Development Bank.
Another project is the gas pipeline to connect Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, called TAPI, vital to Turkmenistan's goal of becoming less dependent on China's natural gas purchases.
The TAPI pipeline, which is still far from being completed, will eventually transport more than 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year from Turkmenistan's gigantic Galkynych field, with India and Pakistan as main customers.
The section crossing Afghanistan will be over 700 km long.
The project has been held back for years by security concerns and investor doubts.
The Afghan government is stuck in peace talks with the Taliban, which began in September in Qatar, which have so far yielded nothing.
The administration of new US President Joe Biden has warned that it will review an agreement made last year by his predecessor Donald Trump with the Taliban, accusing the insurgents of not having reduced their violence and failing to cut ties with Al-Qaeda, as they had committed to.