US repeats opposition to Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline

Islamabad: The United States says it is ready to help Pakistan get over its energy crisis through "financial and technical support", but remains opposed to the $7-billion Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project to bring gas to the Indian sub-continent.

The Bush administration, had turned down requests from Pakistan for a civil nuclear pact similar to the India-US civil nuclear deal, has instead its "ally against terrorism" financial and technical assistance to overcome its energy shortage.

US energy expert and a senior official in the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said Gordon W Weynand, said the US was against associating the Iranian regime with the IPI gas project, though it was ready to help Pakistan meet its energy needs.

He said that the next three years would be very difficult and challenging for Pakistan to resolve its energy crisis for which we are ready to offer our financial and technical support," said Weynand, who is on a two-week visit to Islamabad.

Weynand said the US had decided to help Pakistan import electricity from Central Asia, especially Tajikistan and that the World Bank would provide financial assistance while the Asian Development Bank (ADB) would extend technical support to help Pakistan import 1,000 megawatts of electricity from Tajikistan.

"Our mission is to put together economic growth strategy for Pakistan for the next five years and to see how energy fits into the Pakistani economy," Weynand was quoted today by the Dawn daily as saying.

In regard to the security concerns about the Afghan transit route for the energy project, he said: "These are some difficult issues but then we will make sure that every thing goes normal in Afghanistan and Pakistan gets this electricity from Tajikistan and also from Kyrgyzstan."