TAPI Pipeline in Afghanistan: Reconfiguring Energy Geopolitics in the Shadow of Security Developments

Due to its lower environmental impact and ease of access and transportation, natural gas has experienced the highest demand growth among fossil fuels in recent years, despite rising prices. The largest gas reserves in the world are located in two regions—the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea—with South Asian countries being major consumers of gas from these areas. Various options have been proposed for transporting gas from the Persian Gulf and the Caspian to these markets, one of which is the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline .This article seeks to answer the following question: What geopolitical opportunities and challenges does the TAPI project present for Afghanistan? The research hypothesis posits that, on one hand, TAPI could bring significant benefits such as transit revenues, foreign investment, job creation, stronger economic ties with neighboring countries, and an enhanced geoeconomic role for Afghanistan. On the other hand, challenges such as insecurity along the pipeline route, insufficient technical and institutional infrastructure, the ambiguous and inefficient political structure of the Taliban, competition among regional and extra-regional actors, and doubts about Turkmenistan’s gas capacity could pose serious obstacles to fully realizing these opportunities .The findings indicate that Afghanistan’s effective participation in the TAPI project requires security stability, institutional capacity-building, sustainable economic policymaking, and multilateral engagement with regional and global powers.