India-bound gas pipeline opens in Afghanistan

Regional leaders launched construction work on the Afghan section of an $8 billion natural gas pipeline that will link the energy-rich Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan and India.

Ex-Soviet Turkmenistan holds the world's fourth-largest natural gas reserves but has been heavily dependent on gas exports to China after Russia cut back gas imports in the past few years.

The project is expected to transport 33 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas a year along an 1,800 kilometre (1,125 miles) route from Galkynysh, the world's second-biggest gas field, to Fazilka near the border with Pakistan in northern India.

"South Asia is being connected with Central Asia through Afghanistan after more than a century of division," Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said.