Afghanistan's interim leader Hamid Karzai said on Friday that he and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had agreed to revive a plan for a trans-Afghan gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan.
''Both sides have agreed that the construction of this pipeline will be very beneficial for both the countries as well as for the entire region,'' Karzai told a news conference after talks with General Musharraf.

''We both have agreed on this,'' he said, calling the project ''very essential''.
Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, seeking new export outlets for his country's abundant gas reserves, said that he hoped the fragile peace in Afghanistan would allow work to resume on the major regional natural gas pipeline.

Bureau Report