The summer of 2014 was a season of analogies and anniversaries. European leaders commemorated the start of World War I.

An avalanche of bad news has engulfed the world—murder in the skies over Ukraine, renewed war between Israel and Hamas, and a terrorist resurgence in Iraq. Amid the global chaos, one positive development got little attention—a development that could help advance peace between India and Pakistan, improve chances for reconciliation in Afghanistan, undermine energy blackmail by Russia, and keep economic pressure on Iran while nuclear negotiations continue. On July 8, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India signed an agreement in Ashgabat to move forward with a 1,078-mile natural gas pipeline. This $7.5 billion project known as TAPI, or the Trans-Afghan Pipeline Initiative, has the potential to catalyze investment and trading opportunities in a region sorely in need of both by bringing gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and Pakistan into India.