Afghanistan: Will Afghanistan’s Centuries-Old ‘Karez’ System of Irrigation Survive the Taliban

Aug 13, 2021 | Rajat Ghai, DownToEarth
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The resurgent Taliban is on the victory march to Kabul. It has already taken provincial capitals as well as Afghanistan’s third-largest city of Herat. As the Taliban appear at the gates of Kabul again after two decades, fears have grown about what their conduct will be towards life and livelihood, the economy, systems, institutions and even towards cultural artefacts. One of those apprehensions is about the Taliban’s water policy. After the Taliban took over Herat August 12, 2021, fears have grown about the fate of the internationally financed Afghan-India Friendship Dam, formerly the Salma Dam, on the Harirud River. It is the main source of electricity and irrigation water for hundreds of thousands of people in western Afghanistan.