Central Asia: The Water Wars Are Coming to Central Asia

Jul 31, 2023 | Lynne O’Donnell, Foreign Policy
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In Turkmenistan, household faucets are running dry and locusts are devouring crops. In Kazakhstan, a state of emergency has been declared as the Caspian Sea shrinks to a puddle. In Uzbekistan, the end of an international slave-labor boycott has boosted demand for cotton, a thirsty crop that’s drained the Aral Sea. The Taliban are digging a canal to divert water from the Amu Darya, the river border of five parched Central Asian states. Afghanistan and Iran have traded deadly fire over cross-border water sharing. Some experts fear that the first shots of long-predicted “water wars” may already have been fired.