Turkmenistan’s Pipeline Diplomacy With the Taliban

In Afghanistan, to monitor a pipeline construction project, Turkmenistan’s paramount leader, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, hailed improving bilateral relations with the Taliban government in Kabul, while giving a shout-out to the United States for fostering regional trade. “Relations between the Turkmen and Afghan peoples, which date back to ancient times, are significantly strengthened,” Berdymukhamedov said in an October 20 speech in the western Afghan city of Herat. He insisted that the pipeline project – dubbed TAPI, enabling…