India To Build Dam In Afghanistan – Burning Issues

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What has happened?

India on Tuesday announced that it has signed an agreement with Afghanistan,
For the construction of the Shatoot dam, which would provide safe drinking water to two million residents of Kabul city.
Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar who joined the 2020 Afghanistan Conference via video link,
Organized in Geneva on 23-24 November co-hosted by the UN, the Afghanistan government and the government of Finland,
Also announced more than 100 projects that India will be undertaking in Afghanistan worth $ 80 million.

Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar who joined the 2020 Afghanistan Conference via video link,
Organized in Geneva on 23-24 November co-hosted by the UN, the Afghanistan government and the government of Finland,
Also announced more than 100 projects that India will be undertaking in Afghanistan worth $ 80 million.
India is wary of the Taliban given its proximity to Pakistan and its military spy agency the Inter-Services-Intelligence.
Ghani’s government is currently engaged in peace talks with the rebel Taliban after the US entered into a deal with the group in February,
To allow the exit of US-led foreign troops from the country after a stay of almost two decades.

The Shahtoot Dam is proposed to be built in the Chahar Asiab district near Kabul.
The dam will be built on a tributary of Kabul River, which originates from Sanglakh Range of Hindu Kush Mountain and Flows through Kabul, Surobi and Jalalabad in Afghanistan before flowing into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan.

To provide drinking water to two million residentsof Kabul city.
The dam will be built on the 202-km Pul-e-Khumri electricity transmission line built in 2009 to provide power to the city.
It will also help irrigate 4,000 hectares land in Chahar Asiab and Khairabad.
It will also help provide drinking water for the first phase of the new city at Dehsabz in the outskirts of Kabul.
The construction of the Shahtoot Dam may cost $ 300 million.

Islamabad has been opposing the proposed dam arguing that,
Such projects on the Kabul River and its tributaries in Afghanistan will reduce the flow of water into Pakistan.

Pakistan has in fact been nudging Afghanistan to sign a treaty on sharing of water of Kabul River and its tributaries.
The proposal, however, has not yet received a positive response from the Afghan Government,
Which fears that such a treaty might make it difficult for it to go ahead with its plan to build irrigation and hydroelectric projects in the Kabul River basin.
150 projects worth $80 million
India will also launch some 150 projects worth $80 million as part of the fourth phase of its high impact community development projects
This initiative is focused on smaller projects that can be completed speedily to benefit people in villages and districts.

Jaishankar said India’s developmental aid for Afghanistan was of five types –
Large infrastructure projects such as the 218-km Delaram-Zaranj road that provides alternative connectivity through Iran,
The India-Afghanistan friendship dam and the Parliament building,
Human resource development, humanitarian assistance, high impact community projects and Enhancing trade and investment through air and land connectivity.
More than 65,000 students have studied in India under scholarship programmes, and 15,000 students are currently in India.
Some 3,000 scholarships have been provided to Afghan women for higher studies, and vocational education is being provided to an increasing number of women in Afghanistan.
Since 2001, when the US-led war on terrorism ousted the Taliban regime from Kabul,
India has pledged and implemented development and reconstruction projects worth over $ 3 billion.
No part of Afghanistan was currently “untouched’ by the “400 plus projects” that India has undertaken in all 34 of provinces of Afghanistan.
However, Afghanistan’s growth has been constrained by its land-locked geography.
The India-developed Chabahar port in Iran has provided alternative connectivity that helped transport 75,000 tonnes of wheat and more than 20 tonnes of medicines and equipment during the Covid-19 pandemic

The 402 MW Arun III Hydropower Project in Nepal.
Mangdechhu hydroelectric project is a 720MW run-of-river power plant built on the Mangdechhu River.
600MW Kholongchu Hydro- electric project