Two realities dawned upon the world in the mid-aughts. That the era of cheap food had gone by and so had that of cheap fuel. Not far behind would be the effects of these new realities on the geopolitical stage. Indeed, the diplomatic corps of many countries are chucking out older paradigms of regional power matrices in favour of ones that make cold, composed calculations about food and energy supplies.
The quest for oil, though it has, in the past, led to much warring and bloodshed, also has the potential for achieving a measure of peace, given the increasingly multilateral nature of agreements over pipelines and power-lines. If geographical contiguity traditionally breeds rivalries between states, the same feature provides an incentive for keeping good relations.
Pakistan and Turkmenistan’s recently signed MoUs bring the long-awaited TAPI project closer to reality. The total project would be a $7.6 billion pipeline that will take Turkmen gas through Afghanistan to Pakistan and India. The US administration, presumably, would be pleased at every step in this direction. Because the possibility of importing fuel from Iran is one that is usually mentioned in any discussion on TAPI, this very editorial being an example.
The need of the hour is to establish to the Americans that movement on the TAPI pipeline has been quicker on account of a better rate being negotiated with Turkmenistan and nothing else. Indeed, given our energy needs, we might be going ahead with both programs. There is absolutely no need to be apologetic about it nor should we let anyone interpret this as a sign of a political shift. If energy concerns could make the Indians, in the late 90s, talk to us, their traditional foes, about the possibility of importing electricity, there should be no stopping us from approaching Iran, a friendly nation, for similar reasons.
