India on Thursday expressed readiness to support Afghanistan in its plans to build a dam on the Kunar river, literally wading into the troubled waters along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
Last week, Afghanistan's "supreme leader" under the Taliban regime, Hibatullah Akhundzada, instructed the country's energy and water ministry to begin work on the dam as soon as possible. The announcement came in the midst of heavy exchange of fire across the Afghanistan and Pakistan border over alleged havens provided by the Taliban to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
On whether India would fund or build the proposed dam in Afghanistan, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal drew attention to the joint statement issued earlier this month during the visit of the Taliban's foreign minister to India, Amir Khan Muttaqi, which says that India will support all efforts of Kabul in the sustainable management of water.
"We had the foreign minister of Afghanistan, he visited India recently. As part of the visit, we had issued a joint statement between both countries. This particular joint statement clearly emphasises that India stands ready to support all efforts of Afghanistan that are directed towards sustainable management of water resources, including hydroelectric projects….
"There has been a long history of cooperation on water matters. The Salma Dam is a perfect example of this cooperation. It is today called the India-Afghanistan Friendship Dam," he said.
On October 24, Afghan media quoted Taliban energy and water minister Abdul Latif Mansoor as stating that Akhundzada had instructed the ministry to sign contracts with domestic firms to launch the project instead of waiting for foreign companies.
The Kunar river originates in Chitral in Pakistan, flows for 482km through Afghanistan’s Kunar province, and then joins the Kabul river before returning to Pakistan, making it a disputed lifeline in the absence of a formal water-sharing treaty. A dam on the Kunar river would threaten water flow in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan.
Jaiswal said: "Pakistan is infuriated with Afghanistan exercising sovereignty over its own territories. Pakistan seems to think that it has the right to practice cross-border terrorism with impunity. Its neighbours find it unacceptable. India remains fully committed to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence of Afghanistan."