July 07, 2017

Water woes putting countries on confrontation course

located:	Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan
editor:	Shadi Khan Saif

Water and power remain hotly contested entities in the world with many countries facing acute shortages on day-to-day basis.

War-ravaged Afghanistan is blessed with a number of natural resources – including water – but at the same time this very wealth is bringing back curse. Earlier this week, the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran cannot remain indifferent to construction of dams in Afghanistan. “Dam construction in Afghanistan and Sistan-Baluchestan province (in Iran) play a role in the desiccation of rivers,” Rouhani said addressing a conference in Tehran, Iran.

This was followed by rather aggressive and dangerous remarks by a number of Iranian officials about ‘ways and means’ to stop the Kabul government from securing Afghanistan’s own water. Similar concerns have been raised by Pakistan on a number of occasion about Afghanistan’s desire to develop dams. This presents a quite clear picture of war for resources in a country that remains engulfed in proxy wars and poverty for decades.

Ten police guards of a dam in Afghanistan got killed in a terrorist attack last month.

The relative peace and international longstanding support have allowed the Afghans an opportunity to rebuild their country. Neighboring countries should respect the country’s sovereignty and allow it to secure a fair share of its water that would help bring millions of people out of poverty and enable Afghanistan to contribute to regional prosperity and harmony. Afghan officials and civil society activist in various parts of the country have pronounced Rouhani's remarks as 'interference' in Afghanistan’s internal affairs. There have been protest demonstrations against it in various parts of the country.

In summer 2016, Afghanistan completed Salma Dam in western Herat province bordering Iran – which is a mega power project and irrigation dam – 40 years after it was first conceived. The project has become a reality thanks to the Indian government’s investment of $300 million. In response to India’s steady support for the war-torn country, the government of Afghanistan renamed the dam the “Afghan-India Friendship Dam”.

Afghan official charge that Iran, the only country that Afghanistan has a water treaty with, is now taking up to 70% more water than agreed to, and has built infrastructure on the incoming water without Afghanistan’s consent. The two countries inked the Afghan-Iranian Water Treaty in 1973.