New Silk Road Initiative
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The New Silk Road Initiative was a United States initiative in the 2010s that aimed to integrate Afghanistan with Central Asia, boosting trade and economic development.[1][2][3] Originally developed by the staff of General David Petraeus at the United States Central Command,[2] it was formally announced by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2011 in a speech in Chennai.[4] However, the initiative never got off the ground.[5][6][4] General Jim Mattis cancelled all military funding after Petraeus retired, and the US State Department lacked the funds to implement the projects.[5] The term "New Silk Road" is now commonly used by journalists to refer to China's Belt and Road Initiative.[7][8][9][10][11]
Key projects that were previously linked to the US initiative were later funded by other sources. The CASA-1000 hydroelectricity project is being funded by a consortium led by the International Development Association. The United States contributed 1% of the cost of the project before it pulled out, making it the smallest of seven funding sources.[12][13] The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Pipeline (TAPI) is being funded by a consortium led by the Asian Development Bank.[14] Contrary to a conspiracy theory that was posted to Facebook in 2021, the United States has provided no funding to TAPI.[15]
