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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]
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