ASHKABAD, Dec 26: Afghan interim President Hamid Karzai and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali arrived in Turkmenistan on Thursday to sign a gas pipeline agreement which had been under negotiations for 20 years, embassies officials said.

The two leaders, joined by Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, are expected to sign on Friday the agreement to build the 1,500km gas pipeline from Turkmenistan’s Dauletabad fields across Afghanistan to Pakistan.

The three leaders have already signed a memorandum of understanding on the $2 billion project, which, they hope, will bring prosperity to the region.

US energy company Unocal led efforts to build the line, but its plans were scuppered in 1998 when US cruise missiles struck Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan.

However, since the fall of the Taliban last year, the project has been catapulted back onto the energy agenda by regional leaders.

Mr Niyazov is also due to hold separate bilateral talks with Mr Karzai and Mr Jamali to discuss regional and international issues, including the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan-India relations.—AFP