Kochi: After India suspending the Indus Water Treaty, Afghanistan appears to be treading the same route restricting water to Pakistan, India Today reported.
The Taliban ruled Afghanistan is planning to build a dam on the River Kunar “as fast as possible”.
The Afghan Ministry of Water and Energy said that Supreme Leader Akhundzada had instructed the ministry to begin construction of dams on the Kunar River as soon as possible and to sign contracts with domestic companies, Muhajer Farahi, the Deputy Minister of Information, posted on X on Thursday.
The move comes days after Afghanistan and Pakistan fought a war that claimed hundreds of lives.
India kept the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance after Pakistan-backed terrorists killed 26 civilians in Pahalgam in Kashmir on April 22.
The 480-km-long Kunar River originates in the Hindu Kush mountains of northeastern Afghanistan, near the Broghil Pass close to the Pakistan border.
It flows southward through Kunar and Nangarhar provinces before crossing into Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where it joins the Kabul River near the city of Jalalabad.
The Kabul River joins the Indus near Attock and is crucial for the irrigation and other water needs of Pakistan.
“The Kabul and Kunar River, which flows into Pakistan, have long been a source of water in Pakistan,” London-based Afghan journalist Sami Yousafzai, posted on X.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have no formal bilateral water-sharing agreement in place.
Kabul may restrict water to Pak
