Afghanistan’s Coming Water Crisis

Oct 24, 2016 | Omair Ahmad
View Original

Decades of conflict have left Afghanistan’s water infrastructure in a mess, and as refugees return to the country, the prospect of water-related conflicts rises. Hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees are starting the long trek back home after the latest donors’ conference to rebuild Afghanistan. As they do so much of the commentary is about conflict and their immediate safety, and while that will dominate concerns, the broken infrastructure they return to is generating concerns for the future.

In early October, the Afghan Ministry for Energy and Water, in cooperation with the International Water Management Institute, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation and thethirdpole.net held the country’s first journalists’ workshop on the Indus Basin. Afghanistan has the worst statistics in the region when it comes to sanitation facilities. Only 32% of the population has access to improved sanitation facilities – in India the percentage is 40%, in Nepal it is 46% and in Pakistan it is 64%.