UN: Taliban's next move revealed, Haqqani group wants control over gas pipeline connected to India
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Afghanistan's Taliban-appointed Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani is trying to take control of several economic projects, a UN report has said.
Afghanistan's Taliban-appointed Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani is trying to take control of several economic projects, a UN report has said. Primarily it is seeking to control the construction of the Afghan section of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline.
The Fourteenth Report of the United Nations Security Council's 1988 Taliban Sanctions Committee's Analytical Assistance and Sanctions Monitoring Team stated that there is ongoing bickering among Taliban officials over the distribution of posts in the de facto state apparatus and provincial administration. Here, there is no consensus between the caretaker Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani and the caretaker First Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Baradar on the issues.
The report states that Baradar supports the Southern Provincial Administration. He has consistently sought to gain international recognition for the Taliban, free up Afghan assets abroad, and control the process of expanding foreign aid.
According to the United Nations, the whole fight is for positions in the government, so that financial, natural resources as well as control of the channel can be controlled. According to the report, Sirajuddin Haqqani is allegedly trying to take control of the Afghan section of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.
The 1,814 km long natural gas pipeline originates from Turkmenistan and passes through Afghanistan and Pakistan to reach India. Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India signed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) and Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement (GPFA) in December 2010 for the development of the pipeline. Construction began in 2015, but little progress has been made due to instability in Afghanistan.
