Analysts may be skeptical but $7.5-bn TAPI project has support from Taliban

Ghani didn't detail security arrangements and only briefly suggested that local authorities would be responsible for the pipeline's safety

After decades of talks, Afghanistan finally broke ground last month on a $7.5 billion gas pipeline that will run through areas controlled by the Taliban. Even more surprising: The militant group is backing the project.

The Taliban “deems it its responsibility to revive foundational economic and reconstruction work in the country and asks international construction companies to help the Afghans in this regard,” Zabihullah Mujahed, a spokesman, said in a statement last month, noting that talks on the pipeline dated back to when the Taliban governed the nation.

The endorsement from a group that has fought the U.S.-backed government in Kabul for