Afghan, Turkmen leaders discuss trans-Afghan natural gas pipeline

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan: The leaders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan on Thursday discussed prospects for a pipeline that would carry natural gas from energy-rich Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India via Afghanistan. --- Reaching out to Turkmenistan's violence-plagued southern neighbor in talks with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, new President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov also promised to provide Afghanistan with electric power worth US$300,000 (€220,000) at no cost.