Pakistani, Turkmen and Afghan ministers met on Tuesday to discuss a multi-billion gas pipeline, in particular, the size of Turkmen gas reserves and security in volatile Afghanistan. The long-delayed project envisages a $3.3 billion pipeline running 1,000 miles through Afghanistan to Pakistan, providing Kabul with transit revenue and Pakistan with much needed energy. Among reasons for the delay have been worry about security in Afghanistan and questions over the size of the reserves in Turkmenistan\'s Dauletabad gas field. Pakistani Petroleum Minister Amanullah Khan Jadoon said progress was being made. \"The Afghan minister has given quite some surety and it appears to us too, that there is a lot of improvement in the situation over there,\" Jadoon told reporters after the ministers met in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. \"They are clearing the land mines and, as the minister said, it would improve considerably,\" he said. According to Turkmen estimates Dauletabad has reserves of 1.7 trillion cubic meters, making it the world\'s fourth largest gas field, but Pakistan wants to be sure about that. Energy-rich Turkmenistan, bordering Afghanistan and Iran, had long sought to free itself of its dependence on Russia\'s Soviet-era gas pipeline network. Proposals to build a pipeline through Afghanistan were discussed in the 1990s when the Taliban ruled the country. (Reuters)