Raising their fists triumphantly on a remote patch of border, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad broke ground this week on a natural gas pipeline, hyping it as a conduit to prosperity for their cash-strapped countries. But the deal also is widely seen here as Zardari’s latest grasp for legacy in the final days of his five years as a deeply unpopular leader.
Vahid Salemi/AP - Iranian workers weld two gas pipes together at the start of construction on a pipeline to transfer natural gas from Iran to Pakistan, in Chabahar, southeastern Iran, near the Pakistani border, on March 11.
The United States has long discouraged the pipeline with threats of economic sanctions against Pakistan. U.S. officials, as well as most Pakistani analysts, say the multibillion-dollar project — meant to ease Pakistan’s severe energy shortages by tapping its neighbor’s gas fields — is largely a pipe dream, pursued for 18 years and still fraught with uncertainties over financing.
