Around two years back India helped Afghanistan in completing the Salma dam at Herat Province in western Afghanistan — the last in a series of major infrastructure projects it had supported to help the reconstruction of the war-ravaged country since 2001.
Now after a meeting last week, India has once again agreed to support the Afghan government build the Shahtoot dam near Kabul.
However this a project is not likely to go down well with Pakistan and is likely to sour relations with the new Government to be formed under Imran Khan.
As it is Islamabad has been against all India-funded projects in the landlocked Afghanistan and has been claiming, ever since this Project was first envisaged by the Afghan Govt, that this dam will restrict the flow of water to Pakistan.
The Kabul river originates from Sanglakh Range of Hindu Kush mountain and flows through Kabul, Surobi and Jalalabad in Afghanistan before flowing into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan.
The Shahtoot dam is proposed to be built in on a tributary of Kabul river in Chahar Asiab district near the capital of Afghanistan.
Pakistan has been asking Afghanistan to sign a bilateral treaty on the sharing of water of Kabul river and its tributaries, but till date has not yet received a positive response from the Afghan government.
Afghan is fear that such a treaty might make it difficult for it to go ahead with its plan to build irrigation and hydro-electric projects on the Kabul river basin, hinted Afghan government officials.
Pakistan on the other hand believes that the proposed dam, as well as other similar projects on the Kabul river and its tributaries in Afghanistan, will squeeze the flow of water to Pakistan.
India’s decision to support the construction of the Shahtoot dam has been officially communicated to the Afghanistan Govt by senior officials when they met in Kabul last week for the second meeting of Joint Working Group on Development Cooperation (JWG-DC).
Indian plan to support Kabul build the Shahtoot dam is likely to trigger protest in Pakistan, which has since long been jittery about India’s role in the rebuilding of Afghanistan.
India and Pakistan’s discord over water in J& K and Punjab will now spill over to Afghanistan as well with Delhi ready to help the Afghan government build a dam on the Kabul river basin.
