ASHGABAT: The United States says it supports a planned pipeline taking natural gas from Turkmenistan to India through volatile regions in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

US deputy Assistant Secretary of State Susan Elliott said Thursday that the pipeline could boost stability across the war-torn region. She spoke at an energy conference in the capital of this Central Asian country, Ashgabat.

Observers have questioned the feasibility of building a supply route that would pass through insurgency-wracked areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The US is believed to be opposed to energy-hungry India and Pakistan drawing supplies from Iran via a proposed $7 billion gas pipeline, which could come online by 2015.