War of Words Heats up between Iran and Afghanistan over Water Resources

Jul 12, 2017 | Dominic Dudley
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A long-running diplomatic squabble between Iran and Afghanistan over shared water resources appears to be intensifying, with the two countries’ presidents trading barbs in speeches over the past couple of weeks.

At the heart of the current dispute is the Kamal Khan dam, which Afghanistan is building on the Helmand river – the longest water course in the country, which rises in the Hindu Kush mountains west of Kabul and flows in an arc southwest until it empties out into the Hamun wetlands which straddle the border between the two countries, seeping into the Iranian province of Sistan & Baluchistan and Afghanistan’s Nimruz and Farah provinces.

Afghanistan launched a third phase of the dam in April and it should be completed within four years. In theory such projects should be covered by the Helmand River Treaty signed by the two countries in 1973, but the agreement is far from water-tight with both sides accusing the other of failing to meet their obligations.